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

Cesar Harada. CREDIT: <a href="http://bit.ly/1To6UK9" target="_blank"> TEDxKyoto</a> (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en">CC</a>).

JUL 9, 2015 Article

Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Innovations: "The problems are so huge I can't be pessimistic"

A conversation with Cesar Harada, inventor, environmentalist, and entrepreneur, on oceans, the difficulties of founding a startup, and letting curiosity guide your learning.

JUL 2, 2015 Podcast

The Republic of Conscience

According to former U.S. Senator Gary Hart, Congress, the military, and even the Supreme Court have fallen victim to special interests and ignored America's ...

JUN 23, 2015 Podcast

Ethical Leadership: A Conversation with Chuck Hagel

The one constant in Chuck Hagel's career has been ethical leadership. How have his experiences--in war, Congress, and as secretary of defense--shaped his leadership style?

JUN 18, 2015 Podcast

An Interview with Jim Sleeper on the Future of Liberal Education

Is anything in liberal education nonnegotiable? In this EIA interview, Jim Sleeper, author of "Innocents Abroad: Liberal Educators in Illiberal Societies," published in the journal's ...

CREDIT: Gusta Johnson, Carnegie Council

JUN 17, 2015 Podcast

A Conversation with Ashoka Founder Bill Drayton on Social Entrepreneurship

For millennia, the world was organized around efficiency and repetition, says Bill Drayton, but now this system is  being replaced by a world organized around ...

CREDIT: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-256155163/stock-photo-illustration-of-pig-head-abstract-isolated-on-a-white-background.html?src=pp-same_artist-256155169-ayB7msNOwb6NTLdAMnyjbw-1&ws=1" target="_blank">Shutterstock </a>

JUN 15, 2015 Article

Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Innovations: The Next Pig Idea

Food waste expert and environmentalist Tristram Stuart has had an unexpectedly big idea that could change the world.

JUN 12, 2015 Podcast

Introduction to "Ethics & International Affairs," Summer 2015

In this podcast, Senior Editor Zach Dorfman introduces the journal's summer issue. Topics discussed include essays on liberal education in illiberal societies, and on Edward ...

JUN 11, 2015 Podcast

Why We Cheat: Stories of Dishonesty and Human Nature from Dan Ariely and Others

In this last installment of our three-part series on workplace ethics in collaboration with EthicalSystems.org, we take an honest look at cheating. According to ...

JUN 10, 2015 Podcast

A Conversation with Ethan Zuckerman on the Ethics of the Internet

"We have the capacity to get stories from every part of the globe. The question is, what do we want to pay attention to? The ...

Migration. CREDIT: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15388497@N02/3333084735/" target="_blank">Ariel Kaplan</a> (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en" target="_blank">CC</a>)

JUN 8, 2015 Article

Migrant Deaths Worldwide

There is no going back to a world in which migration can be prevented. The only solution to the global crisis of migrant deaths is ...