Andrew Alexandra

Ethical theory, "common morality," and professional obligations.

We have two aims in this paper. The first is negative: to demonstrate the problems in Bernard Gert’s account of common morality, in particular as it applies to professional morality. The second is positive: to suggest a more satisfactory explanation of the moral basis of professional role morality, albeit one that is broadly consistent with Gert’s notion of common morality, but corrects and supplements Gert’s theory. The paper is in three sections. In the first, we sketch the main features of Gert’s account of common morality in general. In the second, we outline Gert’s explanation of the source of professional moral rules and demonstrate its inadequacy. In the third section, we provide an account of our own collectivist needs-based view of the source of the role-moral obligations of many professional roles, including those of health care professionals.

Professional Ethics for Politicians

In The Prince Machiavelli famously claimed that a ruler ‘must learn how not to be virtuous’, adding that he should ‘make use of this or not according to need’.1 It seems natural to understand Machiavelli here as using ‘virtue’ in the sense of ‘conventional virtue’: clearly, Machiavelli considers that in certain situations some forms of behaviour that are, in general, praiseworthy merit condemnation in a prince, and conversely, action that ordinarily is vicious may count as virtuous for the prince. There is a morality that is appropriate to princes that can and, on occasion, does come into conflict with ordinary morality. When such a clash occurs, the good prince is precisely the one who acts according to the dictates of princely, rather than conventional, morality.

Exclusion, commodification and plant variety rights legislation

Plant variety rights legislation, now enactedin most Western countries, fosters the commodificationof plant varieties. In this paper, we look at theconceptual issues involved in understanding andjustifying this commodification, with particularemphasis on Australian legislation. The paper isdivided into three sections. In the first, we lay outa taxonomy of goods, drawing on this in the secondsection to point out that the standard justificationof the allocation of exclusionary property rights byappeal to scarcity will not do for abstract goods suchas plant varieties, since these goods are not madescarcer through consumption, and consideringalternative – economically consequentialist –justifications. In the third section, we considerthese justifications as they apply to the particularcase of the commodification of plant varieties, andthe legislation which fosters it. A definitive answerto the question of whether this legislation isadvantageous awaits further empirical information, butwe point to several intrinsically problematic aspectsof it.

Private Military and Security Companies and the Liberal Conception of Violence

Abstract The institution of war is the broad framework of rules, norms, and organizations dedicated to the prevention, prosecution, and resolution of violent conflict between political entities. Important parts of that institution consist of the accountability arrangements that hold between armed forces, the political leaders who oversee and direct the use of those forces, and the people in whose name the leaders act and from whose ranks the members of the armed forces are drawn. Like other parts of the institution, these arrangements are responsive to changes in military technology and needs, to geopolitical facts, and to moral and political norms. In particular, they are sensitive to the forms that military organization takes. Since the emergence of modern states in Europe some 500 years ago, there have been three main such forms: private providers—in the form of mercenaries, in early modern Europe—then professional standing armies, which in turn developed into citizen armies. Although elements of the three organizations have coexisted in many armies, the citizen army model has dominated until recently. That model brought with it a particular conception of the accountability relations between the army, the state, and the people. The state had authority over and directed the army, which was accountable to it. In turn the state was accountable for its use of the army to the people, on whose behalf it acted. The dominance of state authority over the military is now under strain, with the professional and private elements—in the form of private military and security companies (PMSCs)—having increasing importance. As those elements increase in power and presence, so it becomes more difficult to make the state accountable to the people for its use of the military, and more difficult for the people to act as a restraining force on the way in which the military used. In this essay, I outline and assess these developments—with particular emphasis on the emergence of PMSCs—in the light of a liberal view of (political) violence. The essay focuses on the situation in the United States, which possesses by far the most important military force in the world today, and in which the use of PMSCs is most developed. The paper has three main sections and a brief conclusion: the first section sketches the liberal view of violence and its implications for organizations dedicated to its use; the second outlines the salient characteristics of the three historically dominant forms of armies; and the third looks at the current situation in which the three forms coexist uneasily.

Innovation, Exclusion and Commodification of Plant Types: A Social and Philosophical Investigation of Plant Variety Rights in Australia

Abstract Plant Variety/Breeder’s Rights legislation, allowing ownership of plant types, was introduced into Australia in the 1980s. The most influential arguments in favour of the controversial legislation were consequentialist in nature. In effect, it was asserted that the benefits, especially the economic benefits, of the introduction of property rights over plant varieties would more than outweigh whatever costs there would be in taking such a step. However, despite the importance of the legislation there has been very little investigation into its actual effects. In this paper we report views about these effects gained through interviews with a range of stakeholders, and briefly outline some of the implications of this information. While the new system is now entrenched, our research provides reasons to believe that government and growers’ bodies should remain actively involved in facilitating, funding and directing Australian plant breeding.

Introduction—The Role of Virtues in Social Work Practice

This book presents ten short biographies of professional social workers who have made significant contributions to the wellbeing of individuals, families and communities, and to the effective functioning of government and non-government organisations. The biographies, and associated discussions, aim to help the reader to see the inspiring qualities of character—the virtues—which have helped these social workers to achieve what they have. The main purpose of this introductory chapter is to explain how we understand the nature of virtue and why we see it as important in social work practice. Virtuous action, as we understand it, is action that is appropriate to the situation that confronts a social worker. Hence, we also provide a brief outline of the socio-economic and political contexts in which the subjects of these biographies worked. We explain, too, how the subjects of the biographies were chosen, and the methods (and their limitations) used to develop their biographies. Finally, we provide a very brief summary of the order and content of the biographies.

Virtue-Led Social Work Practice

The ten biographies presented in this book offer an important opportunity for social work/social welfare/community and social development/human services students, practitioners and educators, and any general reader to look at these professionals’ life stories and some of the virtues we have identified and interpreted from those stories. What is the significance of these biographies? What virtues are demonstrated in their practices? What might we learn from them? Do they have any potential to influence ourselves and our practice? They may or may not be exemplary and we are hesitant to call them so, and we leave it to readers to see what they think. However, the subjects’ lifelong practice stories speak of their practical wisdom, at least to some extent in some respects. While reflecting on these biographies and their virtues, we must pose a crucial question: So what? In this concluding chapter we try to address this question by looking at the possibilities and consequences of virtue-led social work practice, some of the common or core virtues identified in the ten biographies, and the potential for virtue-led social work practice in the future.

Empower People to Take Control of Their Own Lives - Tom Calma, AO

Professor Tom Calma, AO, is an elder from the Kungarakan and Iwaidja tribal groups from the south-west Darwin region and the Cobourg Peninsula in the Northern Territory. Tom served about 45 years in the Australian public sector with a difference. Some of the notable positions he held in his service were the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and Race Discrimination Commissioner and he served as a senior Australian diplomat in India and Vietnam. Tom has dedicated his life to the cause of human rights and social justice, and empowerment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Analysis of his life and practice shows inspirational contributions and qualities.

Book Review: Barker, T. (2006). Police Ethics: Crisis in Law Enforcement (2nd ed.). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas. x pp., 116 pp

Chapter 6 summarizes arrest and incarceration data for the 4,688 male offenders in the CYA samples used here. Three separate samples of offenders paroled from the CYA from three separate time periods (1981/1982, 1986/1987, and 1991/1992) were followed into 2000. Recidivism approaches 90% for the sample as a whole, with more than 80% rearrested at some future time for a serious violent offense. In fact, more than half of the original group was incarcerated as adults—truly a serious group of offenders. The findings as to the relationship between age and crime are presented in Chapter 7. Results with respect to the relationship between past and future offending are reported in Chapter 8 and indicate, at least by implication, the presence of a state dependence effect. The concluding Chapter 9 discusses the implications of their study and findings. The authors conclude, at least regarding the issues they considered here, more support for Sampson and Laub’s 1993/2003 age-graded theory of informal social control. It seems that while some groups of offenders have desisted criminal activity by their mid-20s, virtually all have begun reducing their level of criminality. The analyses of the data are quite complex at times, but Ezell and Cohen present and discuss in Appendix A in just enough detail the methodology and modes of analyses for the study. The Poisson and negative binomial regression models used here are explained in ways that help even the methodologically challenged. Appendix B summarizes the percentage of cases at risk of arrest at each age for the sample, and Appendix C lists a Web site where additional tables and figures omitted from the text but relative to the study are available. This is indeed an important book for those who have more than a passing interest in lifecourse criminology or career criminality. While the conclusions reached here do not differ significantly from those of other researchers over the past 20 years or so, the fact that highrisk samples are examined here certainly add much to the debate. From a policy standpoint, the findings certainly call into question the fundamental bases of current habitual offender statutes and the disastrous “three-strikes and you’re out” philosophy currently in vogue in California and elsewhere.