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
MAY 10, 2022 • Podcast
Making Decisions When Values Conflict or Are Prioritized Differently, with Paul Root Wolpe
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 ...
Related Initiatives
Carnegie Ethics Accelerator
The Carnegie Ethics Accelerator is a new kind of incubator designed to empower ethics in the face of swiftly evolving challenges in technology and public policies.
Ethics & International Affairs Journal
Ethics & International Affairs is the quarterly journal of Carnegie Council. It aims to close the gap between the theory and practice of ethics.
Carnegie Ethics Fellows
The Carnegie Ethics Fellows program (CEF) seeks to cultivate the next generation of ethical global leaders across business, policy, technology, NGOs, and academia.
Explore Our Applied Ethics Resources
FEB 10, 2016 • Article
What Does Singapore Owe its Migrant Workers?
In Tuas View, an industrial neighborhood in Singapore, migrant workers have little reason to leave their buildings. They live in a 15,000 square foot dormitory, where ...
FEB 5, 2016 • Article
Can Wars Ever be Just or Are Wars Merely Justifiable?: The Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo
From the standpoint of ethics of war, the conflict in the eastern region of the DRC would be deemed to be justifiable because it fills ...
FEB 4, 2016 • Article
Deterrence or Disarmament?: The Ethics of Nuclear Warfare
Is using a nuclear weapon morally permissible under some circumstances? Is it ethical to implement nuclear deterrence (threatening to use atomic weapons) as a self-defense ...
JAN 28, 2016 • Article
Human Rights in Asia and the West
The geographical, national, or ethnic East-West division in human rights thinking is increasingly irrelevant. Instead, multiple layers of horizontal solidarity have been formed through global ...
JAN 28, 2016 • Article
Values and the Ethics of International Order
At a time when U.S. primacy is in doubt, when many are concerned that China might become a global political power, when the threat ...
JAN 26, 2016 • Article
The "Singapore School" of Asian Values: Down But Not Out?
When the Asian financial crisis of 1997 blunted the so-called "Asian Economic Miracle," critics--many Westerners, but also Asians tired of the tendentious claims of their cultural ...
JAN 26, 2016 • Article
International Holocaust Memorial Day, January 27: What We Can Still Learn
Holocaust survivor Gene Klein: "On Holocaust Memorial Day we remember the suffering, death and destruction of the camps. This year I also ask you to ...
JAN 25, 2016 • Article
Sidelined at the Summit: Indigenous Peoples Ignored in the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement
It is no exaggeration to say that Indigenous Peoples are the frontline defenders in the fight against the forces perpetuating climate change. Yet despite lip-service ...
JAN 25, 2016 • Podcast
The Unprecedented Jihadi Threat in Europe
"At this very moment, ISIS is recruiting probably 100 people a week from all over the world, including this very country. So it is not a ...
JAN 22, 2016 • Article
Competing Moral Claims over the Nuclear Power-Weapons Crossover
"Although the military–industry complex remains resilient, the only ultimate solution to nuclear danger and the best disaster prevention is a nuclear-free world in both ...