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 ...

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SEP 1, 2015 Article

Ethics on Film: Discussion of "Schindler's List"

It's almost impossible to grasp the enormity of the Holocaust, and there's also the danger of regarding it as a one-time occurrence in the distant ...

CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/trushu/524574337">Aaron Shumaker</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">(CC)</a>

AUG 21, 2015 Podcast

Global Tax Avoidance: Who's Responsible?

We investigate the complex world of tax avoidance, starting with the mining industry in Zambia. Activists, documentarians, and economists give perspectives on how corporations avoid ...

Democratic presidential candidate Barack <br>Obama. Photo by <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/2175936409/">Steve Jurvetson</a> (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en">CC</a>).

AUG 20, 2015 Article

Compromise and Rotten Compromises: A Reflection on the Iran Deal

Ultimately, will the Iran nuclear deal be a good compromise or a rotten one? For an ethicist, one question lingers. Why did the American-led negotiators ...

AUG 17, 2015 Article

Possible Future Worlds: Essays by Carnegie Council's Ethics Fellows for the Future

This booklet is the result of a six-month online course taken by the Ethics Fellows for the Future, based on Carnegie Council Fellow Thong Nguyen's ...

Detail from movie poster.

AUG 6, 2015 Article

Ethics on Film: Discussion of "Gandhi"

This film is a textbook on Gandhi's political philosophy and the Indian quest for statehood. And for many, Ben Kingsley's performance in the title role, ...

World leaders from government, finance, business, and civil society at the UN. CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/15174355559/" target="_blank"> UN Photo</a> (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en">CC</a>)

JUL 29, 2015 Article

Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: Creating Standards for Multi-Stakeholder Governance

Many people in civil society and in governmental circles feel ambivalent about this new global governance approach. Should multi-stakeholders be in charge of "solving" global ...

CREDIT: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-293915009/stock-photo-white-hole-in-the-whirlwind-of-dark-storm-clouds.html" target="_blank">Shutterstock</a>

JUL 28, 2015 Article

To Sow the Wind: An Argument Against the War on Terror

The just war tradition--a tradition that once thought war tragically endemic and sometimes justified, but never simply, unambiguously just--has lost its profound Augustinian political skepticism ...

Photo: Allison Kwesell. Senior Fellow Devin T. Stewart examines a car destroyed by the March 2011 tsunami.

JUL 24, 2015 Article

The Ethics of Nuclear Power: Reflections on Carnegie Council Site Visit to Fukushima, Japan

As part of Carnegie Council's Global Ethical Dialogues site visits to eight countries around the world, in June 2015 the Council led a team of researchers, ...

Learning Initiative - Namie Township, Fukushima, Japan, Case Study

JUL 24, 2015 Article

Namie Township, Fukushima, Japan, Case Study

This case study of ethical decisions, developed by Learning Initiative Inc., is based on archival data at Namie Township, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, from the March 2011 ...

CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/19408153016/">Thomas Hawk</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">(CC)</a>

JUL 21, 2015 Podcast

When CEOs Become Activists

Corporate leaders' influence reaches beyond the walls of their businesses. How do they use that power, and what are the ethical, business, and political consequences? ...