Doing Ethics in a Diverse World

by Traer,Robert

• ISBN13: 9780813343662
• ISBN10: 0813343666
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2007-07-31
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

While challenging moral relativism, Doing Ethics in a Diverse World uses a pluralist approach that draws on religious as well as secular positions and on Eastern as well as Western traditions. The book's approach reasons by analogy from the rule of law, including international human rights law, as a means to construct ethical presumptions about duty, character, relationships, and rights. These presumptions are weighed against the predicted consequences of acting on them, which either confirm the presumptions or support alternative actions. Employing a "Worksheet for Doing Ethics" as a guiding framework, this approach is then applied to issues of public morality, health care, economic justice, sex, the war on terrorism, and living ecologically. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Robert Traer led the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) from 1990-2000. He served with the Ecumenical Accompaniment program in Israel/Palestine sponsored by the World Council of Churches. In 2002 he was a resident scholar at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute for Theological Studies in Israel. He is a member of the core faculty at Dominican University and teaches courses in ethics and religion. Harlan Stelmach's graduate work in the field of ethics began at Harvard University where he received his masters degree. He completed his doctoral work at the Graduate Theological Union in 1977 in an interdisciplinary program in ethics and social science. A post-doctoral visiting scholar stay at the Haas School of Business in Berkeley contributed to one of his specialties in business ethics. He was the director of the Center for Ethics and Social Policy in Berkeley for five years. He is the chair of the humanities department at Dominican and teaches courses in moral philosophy, medical ethics, and social science and religion.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Learning from Experience
Our Challenge: Doing Ethics in a Pluralistic Society	p. 3
Reasoning Together: Making Sense of Our Experience	p. 17
Rule of Law: The Ethics of Justice	p. 35
Creating an Ethical Presumption
Duty: Doing What Is Right	p. 53
Character: Being a Good Person	p. 65
Relationships: Caring and Letting Go	p. 82
Human Rights: Autonomy and Human Dignity	p. 99
Overcoming an Ethical Presumption
Possible Consequences: Utilitarian and Cost-Benefit Arguments	p. 123
Worksheet for Doing Ethics	p. 142
Making Decisions: HIV/AIDS	p. 144
Applying the Approach
Public Morality: Seeking the Common Good	p. 167
Health Care: Life and Death	p. 185
Sex: Consent Plus What?	p. 204
War Against Terrorism: Justice and Freedom	p. 221
Economic Justice: Fair and Caring?	p. 243
Our Natural World: Living Ecologically	p. 265
Notes	p. 287
Bibliography	p. 305
Index	p. 313
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