February 2009 - Local Resource of the Month
February is a short month. So, before it flits by, we want to talk about a local resource on ethics that a2ethics.orgers should know about. No, it is not unethical if you don't want to know, but we think it is a resource that will increase your ethics knowledge and enthusiasm for ethics talk.
The a2ethics.org local resource of the month is: The Center for Ethics in Public Life at the University of Michigan.
Before we get to what's right and good about this Center...we have to ask. What about that name? First, what is the public life anyway? Is it only what we say and do when we are in the public eye? Further, it seems that our willing and eager uses of many communications and information technologies have made private lives obsolete. Even if we lead private lives, whether we like it or not, they are hard to come by these days. So, what distinguishes the public life and its morality?
And second. This Center needs a better acronym. TCFEIPLUM? We don't think so. On one hand, it sounds like a new genetically-engineered fruit that Dean & DeLuca offers in its gift catalog. On the other, it just may well be part of the federal bank bailout program. With an acronym like that, we have every right to ask who will get the PLUM assets and not the bad assets.
Once we get beyond the name, however, this Center is a most welcome addition to the many Institutes (for the Humanities) and Centers (Center for Sustainable Systems) now housed at the city in our midst (and on our hill) known as the University of Michigan.
What resources does the Center offer ?
We will only mention three from the Center's website, because they are the best at taking us away from our own work.
1. The news section is very useful. There are article links on a wide range of topics, from military ethics issues to youth concerns. And they are not always from the usual suspects in ethicsworld. The breadth of sources is a strength. In part we say this, because it is an acknowledgment by Center staff that there is alot of ethics work and talk going on out there.
2. The blogs offered are not overwhelming in number. It seems (though we don't know for sure) that there has been an attempt to ask around in order to find out "the leaders and the best" blogs in a few fields and professions. We are very grateful, for example, the Center includes City Ethics blog. This site gives an interesting view of urban issues and highlights ethics issues that local government professionals routinely face.
We are acutely aware that it is a difficult task to find blogs that do not scream and which aren't extreme, perhaps even more difficult in fields, including ethics. And too, it is hard to get that magical balance of diverse ideas. It seems (though we don't know for sure) that the Center is attempting to offer some balance through Stanley Fish's sometimes grumpy, but always enlightening and carefully written and crafted Think Again blog. This entry, along with the Amnesty International Canada-Business and Human Rights blog are nods, we surmise, to offering diverse viewpoints. But we are not sure about the choices. Why Amnesty and why not Human Rights Watch? And why Stanley Fish?
3. We think it is critical for a Center at a university to address issues of academic integrity. All the time. And we know there are many ethics centers across the nation, the majority of them specialized and most of them at colleges and universities. And even though the principal focus of these centers is often on medical, business, legal or other applied ethics fields, we think all the centers located at colleges and universities should include studies, research and ongoing discussions about issues of academic integrity. We have strong ideas about this.
And we are very glad the Center for Ethics in Public Life at the University of Michigan considers academic integrity a public commitment.
It is not a case of moral luck for us. Even so, we feel very fortunate to have the Center for Ethics in Public Life and its many programs and resources publicly accessible and available to help us in our own increasingly public lives.
For more information on the Center go to: http://ethics.umich.edu/
