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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JAN 26, 2010 Podcast

A Question of Values: Google in China, Chinese Products, and Civil Society

Harney (author of "The China Price") and Stewart discuss the human and environmental costs of China's cheap prices; Google in China; fake and dangerous Chinese ...

JAN 26, 2010 Article

Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: Linking Ethics and Self-Interest in Human Mobility

The ethical and self-interested choice in migration policy is to seek liberalized and rationalized migration that combines positive incentives with clear and fair entry criteria ...

JAN 25, 2010 Article

Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: The Ethics of Undocumented Migration

Using fieldwork data through participant observation and interviews, this paper explains the causes of undocumented migration out of Fujian and explores the ethical frameworks within ...

JAN 22, 2010 Podcast

God and Obama

For President Obama, what is the relation between religion and politics?

CREDIT: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mafleen/466511076/">Mafleen</a> (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en">CC</a>).

JAN 22, 2010 Article

Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Briefings: The Right to Move

A collection of essays from our joint Sophia University-Carnegie Council conference exploring the ethics of an international right to migration.

JAN 21, 2010 Article

Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: Cosmopolitanism as Virtue

Without high levels of migration, and a related ethical commitment to cosmopolitanism, nation-states will fail to develop the individual and collective virtues suitable to "living ...

JAN 21, 2010 Article

Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: The Capabilities Approach and Collective Ownership of the Earth

If people of a particular country are using more than their proportionate share of the collectively owned planet, they should allow for immigration.

JAN 21, 2010 Article

Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: Precarious Lives

If existing refugee protection and international humanitarian regimes are already under serious strain, how can global cooperation be extended for the protection of vulnerable persons ...

JAN 20, 2010 Article

Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: Reconciling an Ethical Immigration Policy with the Nation-state Myth

Don't we, as collective owners and stewards of the Earth, have a basic right to move? Indeed, the right to move is necessary to realize ...

JAN 20, 2010 Article

Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: The Ethics of Language Choice in Immigration

Should language rights be understood as collective rights or individual rights? Do language rights entail active endorsement of immigrant languages on the part of the ...