1st Edition
Common Ground, Common Future Moral Agency in Public Administration, Professions, and Citizenship
Common Ground, Common Future: Moral Agency in Public Administration, Professions, and Citizenship examines the public and private roles of the citizen as a moral agent. The authors define this agent as a person who recognizes morality as a motive for action, and not only follows moral principles but also acknowledges morality as his or her principal. The book explains that public administration is a fundamentally moral enterprise that exists to serve the values that society considers significant, and that this moral nature makes public administration a prototype for other professions to emulate, a model of moral governance in American society.
The title reflects the book's principal purpose and abiding hope: the development of a broad perspective on our individual and collective roles and responsibilities as citizens, professionals, and moral beings, with a recognition of mutual obligations to the large and small challenges inherent in the process of governance.
Administrator
What Is a Moral Agent?
The Special Ethical Aspects of Public Organizations
Citizenship and Public Administration
The Ethical Environment of Public Administration
The Need for Ethical Reasoning in Public Administration
Moral Agency, the Public Administrator, and the Private Citizen
Moral Agency in the Public Sector
The Ideal Public Administrator
The Legislator's Moral Agency
Conflicts of Obligations
Bending and Breaking the Rules
Moral Whistle-Blowing
The Ideal and the Real
Ethical Breakdowns in Public Administration
Insufficient Commitment
Excessive Commitment to Goals
Moral Dilemmas
The Public Administrator as Strong Evaluator
Ethics in Business
CSR
Opponents of CSR
Proponents of CSR
Discussion
Perspectives on Government
Conclusion
Managed Care
Origins and Structure of Managed Care
Moral Challenges of Managed Care
Alternative Perspectives on Managed Care
The Legal Profession
The Client's Interest and the Interests of Justice
Moral Obligations Common to the Legal Profession
The Legal Profession and Public Service
Civil Law
Attorneys Committed to Causes
Conclusion
Higher Education
Ethics in the Academy: Level 1
Ethics in the Academy: Level 2
University-Government Partnerships
University-Business Partnerships
Intercollegiate Athletics
Conclusion
Unifying Ethical Theory
Traditional Ethical Theories
The Unity of the Absolutist Theories
The Kantian Legislator in the Kingdom of Ends and the Moral Agent
The Unified Ethic, Communitarianism, and Individualism
Rawls and the Unified Ethic
Applying the Unified Ethic to Moral Agency
The Moral Agent as Morally Responsible Citizen
Insufficient Commitment to Moral Values
Transformation and Reconfiguration
Moral Agency in Business
Use of Foreign, Low-Wage Labor
Should Tobacco Companies Exist?
The Moral Exemplarship of the Private Executive
Moral Agency and the Attorney
Encouraging the Process of Moral Agency in the Health Professions
Higher Education in the Context of the Kingdom of Ends
The Public Agent as Exemplar for the Private Professional:
A Dialogue
Points of Agreement
Geuras: The Public Administrator as Citizen Exemplar Model
Does Not Fully Apply to the Private Sector
Garofalo's Response
Summary
Common Ground, Common Future
Introduction
Requirements for Reform
Conclusion
Biography
Charles Garofalo, Dean Geuras