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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MAY 26, 1984 Article

Morgenthau Lecture: Interest and Conscience in Modern Diplomacy

Israeli diplomat Abba Eban examines modern developments that are said to have vitiated the power of modern-day diplomacy, refuting each in turn.

Admiral Rickover descends into the circular nuclear reactor shell at the Shippingport Power Facility. Courtesy of LIFE magazine, via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Admiral_Rickover_descends_into_the_nuclear_reactor_shell_at_the_Shippingport_Power_Facility_(14492227730).jpg">Wikipedia</a>..

MAY 12, 1982 Article

Morgenthau Lecture: Thoughts on Man's Purpose in Life

Admiral Hyman George Rickover considers our human need to find purpose and meaning in our lives.

MAY 1, 1980 Article

Banned in South Africa: A Personal Account

David Russell was a courageous white South African Anglican priest. On October 19, 1977, the government cracked down on the press, organizations, and individuals who fought apartheid. ...

Small boat with 162 Vietnamese refugees sinks just a few meters off the Malaysian coast. Most of the refugees were rescued. <br>CREDIT: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/hfpz2ae">UNHCR/ K.Gaugler</a> December 1978

MAY 1, 1978 Article

"Do Not Forget Us!"

Activist Bayard Rustin reports on meeting Indochinese refugees in Thai camps, who fled their countries in fear of their lives. He exhorts America to open ...

February 1974. Expelled from Russia, The Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn is staying in the home of Heinrich Böll. CREDIT: Verhoeff, Bert / Anefo, via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aleksandr_Solzhenitsyn_1974b.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>

JUN 1, 1976 Article

An Interview With Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

"Today this nuclear threat still hangs over both sides, but the West has chosen the wrong path of making concessions. Nuclear war is not even ...

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 ...