Academic Dialogue on Applied Ethics

Recent meta-ethical approaches to applied ethics have elaborated the 'conversational turn' in moral argument. Key figures in this area include Habermas, Putnam, Rorty, and Rawls. In one way or another, these kinds of writers advocate widening reflective equilibrium by embedding empathy and detailed reciprocity into moral reflection and by placing the deliberative process within the intelligent conduct of communal inquiry.

This Academic Dialogue on Applied Ethics used these meta-ethical theories to approach real-world problems in Applied Ethics. The Center for the Advancement of Applied Ethics at Carnegie Mellon University and Routledge Publishing Company jointly supported the endeavor.

The areas of discussion are:

The Meta-ethics of Applied Ethics October 1 - 22, 1996

Feminists' Perspectives on Pornography December 2 - 16, 1996

Religious Perspectives on Abortion February 3 - 17, 1997

An Ethics Committee's Perspective on a Right to Die May 1 - 14, 1997

The Project Overview details the goals, structures, and philosophical rationale of the Dialogue. The Dialogue seeks to follow dialogue guidelines suggested especially by Habermas's "discourse ethics": see excerpt from Simon Chambers's essay "Discourse and Democratic Practices" (The Cambridge Companion to Habermas) and excerpts from Stephen Toulmin's The Uses of Argument (Cambridge University Press).

There are various ways to access and participate in these dialogues. Clicking here will take you to a general introduction and describe the various features and resources that will be made available.

Visit the Philosophy Resources at Routledge

and the Center for the Advancement of Applied Ethics at Carnegie Mellon University

Robert Cavalier, Carnegie Mellon and Charles Ess, Drury College