Science Policy, Ethics, and Economic Methodology

Science Policy, Ethics, and Economic Methodology
Author: Kristin Shrader-Frechette
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 413
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9400964498

If indeed scientists and technologists, especially economists, set much of the agenda by which the future is played out, and I think they do, then the student of scientific methodology and public ethics has at least three options. He can embrace certain scientific methods and the value they hold for social decisionmaking, much as Milton Friedman has accepted neoclassical econom ics. Or, he can condemn them, regardless of their value, much as Stuart Hampshire has rejected risk-cost-benefit analysis (RCBA). Finally, he can critically assess these scientific methods and attempt to provide solutions to the problems he has uncovered. As a philosopher of science seeking the middle path between uncritical acceptance and extremist rejection of the economic methods used in policy analysis, I have tried to avoid the charge of being "anti science". Fred Hapgood, in response to my presentation at a recent Boston Colloquium for the Philosophy of Science, said that my arguments "felt like" a call for rejection of the methods of risk-cost-benefit analysis. Not so, as Chapter Two of this volume should make eminently clear. All my criticisms are construc tive ones, and the flaws in economic methodology which I address are uncovered for the purpose of suggesting means of making good techniques better. Likewise, although I criticize the economic methodology by which many technology assessments (TA's) and environmental-impact analyses (EIA's) have been used to justify public projects, it is wrong to conclude that I am anti-technology.

Ethics and Environmental Policy

Ethics and Environmental Policy
Author: Frederick Ferré
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Total Pages: 308
Release: 1994
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780820316574

In this collection of essays, leading environmentalists and philosophers explore the relationship between environmental ethics and policy, both in theory and practice. The first section of the book focuses on four approaches to change in ethical theory: ecological science, feminist metaphysics, Chinese philosophy, and holistic postmodern technology. In subsequent sections the contributors emphasize the need for nontraditional solutions and attempt to expand awareness of the most pressing practical problems. Among the topics discussed are the possibilities of real international cooperation, the inequitable but economically intractable issue of global gasses, the political and ethical challenges of city planning, and the growing evidence of fundamental inappropriateness in treating land as legal private property. This volume is based on essays presented in 1992 at the Second International Conference on Ethics and Environmental Policy. The conference was held in response to the increasing need for a new ethics that would counter the traditional human-centered, dominantly individualistic approach of the industrial world toward the environment.

Research Methodology

Research Methodology
Author: Peter Pruzan
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2016-02-22
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319271679

This book is an in-depth guide to effective scientific research. Ranging from the philosophical to the practical, it explains at the outset what science can – and can’t – achieve, and discusses its relationship to mathematics and laws. The author then pays extensive attention to the scientific method, including experimental design, verification, uncertainty and statistics. A major aim of the book is to help young scientists reflect upon the deeper aims of their work and make the best use of their talents in contributing to progress. To this end, it also includes sections on planning research, on presenting one’s findings in writing, as well as on ethics and the responsibilities of scientists.

Ethics and Economics

Ethics and Economics
Author: Johan Graafland
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2021-09-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000416615

This textbook applies economic ethics to evaluate the free market system and enables students to examine the impact of free markets using the three main ethical approaches: utilitarianism, principle-based ethics and virtue ethics. Ethics and Economics systematically links empirical research to these ethical questions, with a focus on the core topics of happiness, inequality and virtues. Each chapter offers a recommended further reading list. The final chapter provides a practical method for applying the different ethical approaches to morally evaluate an economic policy proposal and an example of the methodology being applied to a real-life policy. This book will give students a clear theoretical and methodological toolkit for analyzing the ethics of market policies, making it a valuable resource for courses on economic ethics and economic philosophy.

Business in Ethical Focus: An Anthology - Second Edition

Business in Ethical Focus: An Anthology - Second Edition
Author: Fritz Allhoff
Publisher: Broadview Press
Total Pages: 770
Release: 2016-12-20
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1554812518

Business in Ethical Focus is a compilation of classical and contemporary essays and case studies in business ethics. Readers will become acquainted with seminal ideas on corporate social responsibility and the place of business in a just society. Other topics include diversity in the workplace, sexual harassment, workplace rights, environmental responsibility and sustainability, global business, intellectual property, bribery, and ethical issues in advertising and marketing. This second edition adds a dozen original case studies, as well as new sections on global perspectives (with articles on Islamic, Confucian, and Buddhist business ethics), entrepreneurship, and the non-profit sector. Background material on ethical theory and the nature of business ethics is included to orient readers new to this field.

Natural Resource Economics

Natural Resource Economics
Author: Daniel W. Bromley
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9401174261

When approached by Warren Samuels, the series editor, about organizing a volume on natural resource economics, I was at a loss as to how one might possibly capture in "several major essays plus several shorter comments thereon" all of the diverse activities that fall within this exciting discipline. I was further asked to have the book take an "affirmative but constructively critical look at its subject. " The volume was to be interpretative, it was to be reasonably comprehensive, and yet it was to attempt to present divergent views on the "development, tensions, present status, and, especially, possible lines of development of each field. " Upon reflection, I decided to have the book focus on natural resource economics as a distinctly applied policy science. Hence the title: Natural Resource Economics: Policy Problems and Contemporary Analysis. While this allowed clarification of a particular sort, it did little to narrow the range of policy issues that ought to be considered candidates for inclu sion. But it did seem, after some thought, that three broad issues persist at center stage in natural resource policy.

Economic Growth and Valuation of the Environment

Economic Growth and Valuation of the Environment
Author: Ekko Ierland
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 413
Release: 2001-01-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1843763028

The debate on the valuation of nature and the environment, sustainable national income and economic growth is one of prime importance in environmental economics. Economic Growth and Valuation of the Environment deals with the fundamental approaches to cal

The Philosophy of Economics

The Philosophy of Economics
Author: Daniel M. Hausman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 484
Release: 1994-02-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780521459297

Expanded and updated coverage of such key areas as positivism and economic methodology as well as special methodological problems and perspectives enhances this new edition of twenty-two classic and more recent pivotal investigations into the philosophy of economics.

Russian Studies, Political Science, and the Philosophy of Technology

Russian Studies, Political Science, and the Philosophy of Technology
Author: Guoli Liu
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 483
Release: 2022-04-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1666906360

This volume presents state-of-the-art creative scholarship in political science and area studies with an emphasis on Russia. The contributors, all well-known in their specialties, share the conviction that advancement in the social sciences can only be achieved through plural methodological approaches and interaction with various disciplines. Their work in this collection provides critical analyses of key issues in Russian and post-Soviet studies. It explores the most fruitful ways of studying Russia with particular emphasis on the federal system, politics in the era of Putin, challenges of Russian foreign policy, and Russian attitudes toward democracy. The vagaries of democracy are also explored in articles on Georgia and Turkey. Additionally, this book examines the philosophy of technology with an emphasis on critical theory, eco-domination, and engineering ethics.