Applied Ethics

Framing ethical perspectives

Applied ethics refers to the practical applications of the moral principles that govern behavior. Carnegie Council focuses on this field, mostly through the realm of international affairs, by identifying and addressing the most critical ethical issues of today and tomorrow. Our initiatives, content, and experts analyze the way that governments, institutions, and individuals interact and make choices on global issues, such as climate change, emerging technology, and governance.

Featured Applied Ethics Resources

Practical conversations, decision analysis, and more

JUL 5, 2023 Article

A Framework for the International Governance of AI

Carnegie Council, in collaboration with IEEE, proposes a five-part AI governance framework to enable the constructive use of AI.

APR 12, 2022 Podcast

Surveillance Tech's Infinite Loop of Harms, with Chris Gilliard

In this discussion with Senior Fellow Arthur Holland Michel, Chris Gilliard explains why the arc of surveillance technology and novel AI bends toward failures that ...

Explore Our Applied Ethics Resources

U.S. Huey helicopter spraying Agent Orange over Vietnam. CREDIT: U.S. Army via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US-Huey-helicopter-spraying-Agent-Orange-in-Vietnam.jpg">Wikipedia</a> (Public domain)

MAR 1, 1975 Article

Environmental War

"Harnessing weather as a means of warfare would at one time have seemed unthinkable, a grotesque variation on chemical and biological warfare. But 'weather war' ...

Book covers

JAN 1, 1972 Article

Languages of Murder: William Calley and Charles Manson

Peter Berger grapples with the most shocking U.S. crimes of the 1960s: the My Lai massacre and the Manson murders. While it would be ...

CREDIT: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-140748628/stock-photo-vietnam-war-style-image-of-two-helicopters-flying-low-over-the-jungle-canopy-at-sunset-time.html?src=eqQ0lPosGSAB2mOKWHD-FQ-1-1">Shutterstock</a>.

MAY 1, 1970 Article

On the Moral Implications of Torture and Exemplary Assassination

First published in May 1970 during the Vietnam War, this WORLDVIEW magazine article is just as relevant today.

Hoa Lo prison (the "Hanoi Hilton"). CREDIT: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51711587@N00/4434627193/">mattjkelley</a>

APR 29, 1970 Article

Mission to Hanoi, 1968

In February 1968, peace activist Father Daniel Berrigan and historian Howard Zinn flew to Hanoi to obtain the release of three American prisoners of war. Here ...

Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. <a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6120927">National Archives</a>.

JAN 5, 1970 Article

"In Your Hands: A Guide for Community Action"

"America's advances depend on every citizen. From now until the Declaration's tenth anniversary on December 10, 1958, you will want to study and discuss the Declaration, examine ...

View from the Palais des Nations, Geneva, 1950s. CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/andersannipal/16892949299/">Anders</a>.

JAN 5, 1970 Article

CPU's John R. Inman Goes to Europe

Annual Reports used to be a lot more entertaining! In this excerpt from the 1956 Report, John Inman discusses attending the annual assembly of the World ...

Memorial sign at the Gurs Internment Camp, Southwest France, listing the groups imprisoned there. CREDIT: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camp_de_Gurs_panneau_m%C3%A9moriel_1980.jpg"> Claude Truong-Ngoc</a> ,1980. (<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en">CC</a>)

JAN 5, 1970 Article

A Pastor Under Nazi Rule

Jules Jezéquel was a Protestant pastor in the Reformed Church of France and represented the Church Peace Union and the World Alliance of Churches ...

Pearl Harbor, 1941. <a href="http://bit.ly/1tZ16dX">U.S. National Archives & Records</a>

JAN 5, 1970 Article

The Churches, The War and The Peace

This statement was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Church Peace Union (now Carnegie Council) on January 15, 1942. It was also published in the World ...

Members of the Heldenmuth family board the SS St. Louis in Hamburg harbor. U.S. Government photo, via <a hre="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StLouisHamburg.jpg">Wikipedia</a>.

JAN 5, 1970 Article

"Intolerance in America" and "America and Refugees"

"Intolerance expressing itself in prejudice and hatred for the Jew will not end there; in fact, it threatens the very structure of democracy and religious ...

Carrie Chapman Catt. Carnegie Council archives.

JAN 4, 1970 Article

Fighting for a Lasting Peace

In the mid-1920s the Church Peace Union and international organization it created, the World Alliance for International Friendship, campaigned hard for a lasting peace.