Mission Statement
There is a salient need for a new focus on the ethics of globalization and the development of more effective transnational cooperation to deal with current vexing issues of interstate and ethnic conflict, poverty, and environmental degradation. The Center for Global Ethics & Politics at Temple University addresses these issues through collaborative research, curricular initiatives and public activities. Although there are many centers for applied ethics and politics in the U.S., there are few that have such a clearly global focus. At the level of social awareness of moral problems and dilemmas, and in more national and international contexts as well, it is clearly important for citizens—of the nation or the globe—to be cognizant of issues of global justice and human rights and of the various theoretical and practical frameworks that are available for addressing them. Indeed, new agreement on some standards across borders is necessary. The Center will help initiate the sorts of dialogue and discussion which is preliminary to these agreements. It will also engage in research that may contribute to the development of more global theoretical frameworks for values and norms themselves, ones that give due weight to the diversity of cultural and national communities.
CGEP at Temple:
The Center for Global Ethics & Politics furthers Temple’s focus on global education and research. It brings needed attention to the values and norms that inevitably play a role in the search for knowledge and the devising of public policy. It attempts to help students and faculty become aware of the social and personal benefits and costs of information and other technologies and the ethical issues that sometimes attend the practical applications of human knowledge. The emphasis on global human rights generates a focus on human needs and on the way our knowledge and research can serve to fulfill them or fail to do so. The study of normative issues in global governance also has practical effects in proposals for the development of new democratic modes of transnational linkage and cross-border communication. Finally, the emphasis on cross-cultural dialogue contributes to Temple’s leadership in the area of diversity and the appreciation of the contributions of different cultural traditions.