Ethics & Moral Philosophy books

Volume 5 covers many ethical problems in bioethics from the relevance of the law in making medical decisions, to genetics, and to assisted reproduction. Authors apply ethical theory, meta-ethical theory and valuational perspectives to a variety of ethical issues.

This volume supports the ethical negotiations of empirical researchers and enhances understanding of the complex imbrication of ethics and knowledge in contemporary social research. It deals jointly with the role of ethics in, and the effect of ethics on, social research.

This volume is a selection of papers from the 19th annual 'Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics' Conference. Topics covered include journalism ethics, organ donation, as well as an essay drawn from Daniel Wueste's keynote address on the conditions and implications of trust for the professions. Other papers include research on the ethical perils of university researchers, a values based approach to ethical culture, the ethics of hospitality-tourism practice and pedagogy, and ethical decision making processes for research in Small and Medium Enterprises.

Anthologies on abortion and general medical ethics texts often seem to recycle the same old, but good, arguments. Can anything new be said about this sensitive and contentious topic? Contributors to this volume were invited to say something original, as well as something old, but essential about the factual, valuational, religious and metaphysical issues relevant to abortion, all of which are woven together so intricately into our diverse and seemingly irreconcilable world-views. Essays in this volume consider the conceptual links between views on abortion and foetal development, abortion procedures, religion, laws and public funding (or no funding) policies. Authors also defend well-defined and differentiated positions on abortion that can broadly be described as the Roman Catholic, the Conservative, the Moderate and the Liberal positions. "New Essays on Abortion and Bioethics" will provide readers with useful models of critical and rational thinking for addressing the topic of abortion. The essays will help to illuminate a subject about which there is often too much heat and too little light.

This important volume looks at conflicts of interest, codes of ethics, and the regulation of corruption in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the European Community. It finds that there is less corruption than ever before, but the gap between public expectations and perceptions has nevertheless widened. Moreover, it questions the dominant academic approach to applied ethics, with its emphasis on training, standards and procedures, and, ultimately, regulation. In contrast, the authors featured in this volume argue that governance is a social process. Ethical governing means attending to the relational aftermath of complex decisions - the ways in which decisions and their execution affect and sustain social relationships. Moreover, applied ethical reasoning in this context must not only confront certain stock issues, but must also lead to widespread participation in decision making processes. Viewed in this way, ethical governing means a respectful discourse involving widespread participation of legitimate viewpoints. Consequently, the authors suggest that the nearly universal dissatisfaction with the state of public ethics is a manifestation of something deeper and more profound. As one author explains, public perceptions won't look up so long as politics remains a spectator sport, dominated by 'sleaze ball tactics and shrinking sound bites'.

The purpose of the series is to explore the central and unique role of organizational ethics in creating and sustaining a pluralistic, free enterprise economy. The primary goal of the research studies published here is to examine how profit seeking and not for profit organizations can be conceived and designed to satisfy legitimate human needs in an ethical and meaningful way.

It is apparent that the current literature fails to systematically describe and examine the diverse value and ethical issues that arise in relation to alcohol abuse. This volume attempts to fulfil this void by addressing the most basic scientific and philosophical questions about the causes of alcoholism, their implications for individual responsibility and the most basic public policy questions that stem from clinical medicine and public health.