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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CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/markdavidjohnson/15926943375/" target="_blank">Mark David Johnson</a>

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 ...

CREDIT: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-225614590/stock-vector-multic-olored-mosaic-world-map-eps-cmyk-organized-by-layers-global-colors-gradients-free.html" target="_blank">Shutterstock</a>

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 ...

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, Singapore. CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/31085717@N00/7983276207/" target="_blank">Khairul Nizam</a>

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 ...

CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/7571766@N02/9695734067/" target="_blank">Vincent Steurs</a>

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 ...

Indigenous Peruvians, COP21 UN Climate Summit, 2015. Credit: Ryan Rodrick Beiler, <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-350445248/stock-photo-paris-november-indi

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 ...

CREDIT: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-134058182/stock-photo-radiation.html" target="_blank">Shutterstock</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 ...

CREDIT: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-126561266/stock-vector-diversity-transparent-hands-circle-isolated-over-white-eps-vector-illustration-cleanly-built.html" target="_blank">Shutterstock</a>

JAN 21, 2016 Article

The Concept of Humane Democracy and a New Global Order

"Differing from liberal democracy whose political goal is rather negatively conceived in a sense of protecting individual rights, the concept of humane democracy is envisioned ...

CREDIT:  <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeroenakkermans/24637623679/">Border, Macedonia-Greece, FEb 2016.  Jeroen Akkermans</a> (<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">CC</a>)

JAN 21, 2016 Article

Rising Fences: Migrants, Borders, and a New Frontier for Ethics

"What will 2015 be remembered for? The image that comes to mind is 'rising fences.' If we took a satellite photo of the planet, that ...

Jawaharlal Nehru signing the Indian Constitution in 1950.

JAN 15, 2016 Podcast

Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox Discusses the Indian Constitution

Quinnipiac professor Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox recently spent three months researching the Indian Constitution in Delhi. In this talk, she details the document's framework, its main architect ...