THE PROBLEM of the twentieth century is the problem of the
color-lineÑthe relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and
Africa, in America and the islands of the sea.
W.
E. B. Dubois
The
proposed book is a selection of readings on those contemporary moral issues
that arise from the division between the global North and SouthÑÒthe problem of
the color-lineÓ that W. E. B. Dubois identified at the beginning of the
twentieth century which, on a scale that Dubois could not have anticipated, is
the problem of the twenty-first.
This
book is intended primarily as a text for undergraduate philosophy courses in
Òapplied ethicsÓ or Òcontemporary moral issues.Ó It would be the text of choice
for more specialized undergraduate applied issues courses focusing on issues of
globalization broadly construed. My proposed reader would also, I believe, be
the text of choice for interdisciplinary philosophy/economics courses
concerning issues of globalization, and would be attractive for
philosophy/political science and philosophy/international relations courses
focusing on these issues.
9/11
focused attention on these issues. My university and others sponsored
Òteach-insÓ in the immediate aftermath and many faculty revised their syllabi
to include discussions of terrorism and other issues concerning the global
North/South divide or, like myself, prepared new courses addressing these
issues. While 9/11 brought these concerns to the table in a dramatic fashion,
globalization will be a major concern for the coming decades, and as a
consequence a growing demand for college courses addressing social, political,
economic and ethical dimensions of globalization.
Currently
there are no Òcontemporary moral issuesÓ texts on the market that focus on
these concerns. Although there are some anthologies that include readings on
terrorism, population, environmental concerns and other issues with which my
project is concerned, there are none that include a comprehensive overview of
topics that arise from globalization broadly construed. When a colleague in
economics and I, in response to 9/11, prepared a course on the economics and
ethics of gender in the developing world (see the course website at http://www.sandiego.edu/~baber/gender)
we assembled readings for the course ourselves: there were no suitable texts
available either on gender issues or on broader issues concerning the global
North/South divide.
Like
us, many of our colleagues in humanities and social sciences disciplines have
found it difficult to find teaching materials addressing these issues and would
be eager have a collection of readings such as those which I have assembled
available for classroom use.
This
book is important because it includes readings on important public issues that
figure tangentially, if at all, in other comparable texts for undergraduate
courses in Òapplied ethicsÓ or Òcontemporary moral issues.Ó
Students
are inclined to relegate moral concern to the private sphere of personal
relationships and feelings while regarding ÒpracticalÓ issues of conduct in the
economic and political sphere as largely beyond good and evil and where, they
assume, the moral point of view is Òunrealistic.Ó Many philosophy instructors
are ill-equipped to counter these assumptions: quite often they do not know
where to find empirical data to back their arguments and are unfamiliar with
literature interpreting this data which is crucial to any serious consideration
of the ethical questions it poses. My aim is to remedy this.
The
proposed project includes readings to which philosophy faculty who teach
applied ethics courses do not have de facto access. It does not include papers on
abortion, euthanasia or capital punishment. These are important issues but
philosophers know where to find material on these topics. It does not include
Judith Jarvis ThompsonÕs article on abortion which figures in most contemporary
moral issues anthologies on the market: everyone knows where to find it. It
does include readings on colonialism, globalization and immigration that rarely
figure, even tangentially, in contemporary moral issues readers, source
material from the World Bank, IMF and UN agencies that most philosophers do not
know how to find, and literature in welfare economics with which most are
unfamiliar.
The
business of undergraduate Òapplied ethicsÓ courses is an ongoing negotiation
between academics and publishers. Most of us who teach these courses are not
specialists in the field. We do not have either the time or the inclination to
put together packets of readings for use as primary texts so we compromise: we
buy the Òleast-worstÓ anthologyÑthe one that touches on some of the topics we want,
with most of the readings we want. Publishers, and editors, for their part try
to accommodate the interests of faculty who choose texts. So, for example, the
newer contemporary moral issues anthologies and revised editions of the old
warhorses now include sections on environmental issues and gay and lesbian
issues as well as the old standbys. But this negotiation, and mutual
compromise, is time-consuming and outcomes are never wholly satisfactory:
instructors never get exactly what they want and publishers rarely succeed in
accommodating the interests of faculty, or students.
I
believe that the text I propose to edit comes closer to accommodating the
interests of faculty and meeting the needs of students than any collection of
readings currently on the market. The topics I include are not only hot
issues--they raise the long-standing ethical questions that most philosophers
want to pose to their students: what is the good life? which states of affairs
are conducive to human flourishing? what constitutes a fair distribution of
resources?
To
this end I have organized the proposed volume into two parts. The first part
includes classic readings in ethical theory insofar as it pertains to the
economic and political issues that figure in the second, topical section of the
book. I have included what I believe are the canonical sourcesÑselections from
Rawls and Nozick, and critiques from both utilitarian and communitarian
perspectives as well as SenÕs important reflection on the question of
distributive justice, ÒEquality of What?Ó
Some
anthologies comparable to mine are generic; others have a spin or
focus--religious, Òvirtue ethicsÓ oriented, feminist or otherwise. My spin is
frankly utilitarian and reflects a strong, though by no means exclusive,
interest in ethical concerns that arise from economic issues. That focus has
determined the topics and readings that are included in the second section.
In
addition to standard readings in ethical theory and topical essays by
philosophers like Anthony Appiah, Martha Nussbaum, Peter Singer, Thomas Nagel
and others, I have included essays by writers from other academic disciplines
including economists Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz, Paul Krugman and Thomas
DiGregori as well as material from the World Bank, IMF and United Nations
agencies. These readings will be informative to instructors as well as students
I
also include readings from more popular sources intended to pique student
interest and elicit class discussion. ÒDressing for LulaÓ for example is an
extremely readable and informative essay on disparities of wealth and political
change in Brazil packaged as a report on the history and operations of Deslu, a
fortified department store for the ultra-wealthy in S‹o Paulo. ÒLispeth,Ó from
KiplingÕs Plain Tales from the Hills is, surprisingly, a powerful indictment of racism and,
obliquely makes a more emotionally compelling case against colonialism than
Frantz FanonÕs rhetoric from The Wretched of the Earth which features in the section on war,
revolution and terrorism.
In
each section of the proposed reader I have included, where appropriate, source
material containing empirical data and analysis, discussion from the
philosophical literature, and accounts of contemporary issues from more popular
sources. So, for example, in the section on gender I include selections from
the UN, Engendering Development,
which includes extensive empirical data on the social situation and economic
status of women globally, Martha NussbaumÕs discussion of Òadaptive
preference,Ó and a recent op-ed piece from a Zambian newspaper defending
corporal punishment as a legitimate means by which men may ÒchastiseÓ their
wives. Likewise, in the section on population and the environment I have
included a recent UN document including data and discussion of a variety of
environmental issues, a chapter from Peter SingerÕs most recent book discussing
environmental issues from the philosophical point of view, and essays by
Vandana Shiva and Thomas DiGregori on the current debate over genetically
modified foods. The section on immigration, integration and diversity includes
essays by Goodhart and Halley about multiculturalism and journalistic pieces on
the current controversy concerning the decision to ban Islamic headscarves in
French public schools.
While
I have not followed a rigid point-counterpoint format, I have tried to include
material representing a range of perspectives in each section. So, for example,
in the section on war, revolution and terrorism I include amongst the readings
Frantz FanonÕs classic defense of the use of violence in revolutionary
struggles, Soran ReaderÕs defense of pacifism and David LubanÕs articulation of
the just war theory.
Most
of the readings for the proposed anthology are available in unedited form at http://www.sandiego.edu/~baber/globalethics.
Some of the readings indicated in the Table of Contents are still in the
process of being scanned. I expect that they will be available at the site
within the next two weeks.
The
majority of entries are journal articles or journalistic pieces of suitable
length for inclusion in a textbook/anthology. Some of the UN reports are
lengthy and I plan to edit them for inclusion in the proposed text. In addition
I am prepared to maintain a website including current papers on additional
issues as they arise as a supplement to the book. As indicated in the Table of
Contents, I also plan to write an introduction for each of the sections
outlining the ethical issues posed by the readings as well as a general
introduction for the project.
ÒContemporary
moral issuesÓ courses are a standard offering for undergraduates in philosophy
departments at virtually all American universities. I have structured topics
and selected readings for a text that is unique in the market for Òcontemporary
moral issuesÓ anthologies, which satisfies a growing need textbooks addressing
global issues, and which, if
published, will be in demand by philosophy faculty like myself. I therefore
hope that you will consider the proposed project for your list.