The New Ethics : A Guided Tour of the Twenty-First Century Moral Landscape

by Anita L. Allen

288 pages
Miramax; (September 1, 2004)

A brilliant take on modern-day ethics in a world turned upside-down.

Book description
The rules of the game have changed. In our current climate, career success requires vicious competition; dishonesty has begun to seem almost de rigueur in sports, business, even politics; and innovations in biotechnology allow us to virtually design the length and quality of our very lives. Our world is complicated and cut-throat—and our ethics are in need of a face-lift.

In this in-depth, thoughtful look at the state of the nation’s moral health, esteemed ethics professor Anita Allen examines our ethical obligations as citizens of a democratic society—and as citizens of an increasingly global community. Informed by her experiences as a mother, an African American woman in a mixed-race marriage, and a teacher, Allen looks at why our weakness so often wins out over what we know we ought to do, reveals unexpected sources of moral guidance, and explains why responsible choice is more crucial now than perhaps at any other time in history.

Timely, provocative, and subtly persuasive, The New Ethics empowers women and men, Democrats and Republicans, multi-culturalists and traditionalists alike, to actively re-engage personal ethics, with eyes wide open, and ears attuned to that “little voice” we all have, when we aren’t busy drowning it out.


From Publishers Weekly
Examples drawn from recent headlines abound—everything from Martha Stewart to physician-assisted suicide—along with lesser known lawsuits and anecdotes from Allen’s past in this survey of want v. should. Throughout, Allen, a philosopher and professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania, applies her own ethical thinking, rooted in caring and in faith in the practical efficacy of ethics, while also expounding other ethical takes on the issues: cheating as a paradigm of ethical failure, differing theories of moral education, ethical training for doctors and lawyers, business scandals, why illegal drug use is not ethically blameless. Allen also takes on ethical problems posed by new and emerging technology, from designer babies to cosmetic surgery. She identifies duties we owe to our communities—fighting de facto segregation and voting regularly—and, in conclusion, outlines an agenda for ethical living. Allen sometimes lays on examples to the point of exhaustion, and the ethical analysis, while usually astute, can get thin. (A passage on sex in the workplace proves that "mixing business with intimacy is commonplace.") She is best when she is personal: telling stories that draw on her African-American background; recounting how she once had an affair with her best friend’s boyfriend. Also welcome is Allen’s voice, which combines intelligence and wit with accessibility and warmth.
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About the author
ANITA ALLEN, Ph.D., is a Professor of Law and Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Haverford, PA.