Global Ethics Corner Podcast

How do you choose missions to fight a war effectively, while minimizing civilian deaths and meeting the obligation to your soldiers?

Must governments meet violence with an authoritarian response? In the recent Mexican election, citizens could demand a crackdown on druglords at the price of personal freedoms, or continue to participate at the risk of their safety. Mexicans chose the latter. What would you do?

Does the state capitalism model present a challenge to free market political systems? Is Google's confrontation with China a taste of the future? What do you think?

When China loosens the peg of its currency to the dollar, the U.S. will benefit--but it may hurt labor in China. While the looser Chinese currency is fairer to trading partners, it conflicts with protection of Chinese citizens' interests. How would you balance the two concerns?

In Rwanda, 92 percent of citizens have government-mandated health insurance, collectively owned by the policy-holders themselves. Does organizing health care based on this mutual ethical obligation make sense for other countries? What do you think?

Should the U.S. be helping developing countries when it has its own dramatic domestic problems?

Will the next dominant international conflict be between state capitalism and free market capitalism? Will it supplant the war on terror? What do you think?

How do we meet the massive global issue of fertility without being mired in the abortion debate? What do you think, regardless of your view on pro-life or pro-choice?

Are babies born with the morality they need or do they learn it from society? Is morality a biological trait that builds communities through enlightened self-interest, or does it come from a spiritual being? What do you think?

Should the U.S. shed some global ambitions and responsibilities? Or, is America's global role simply too important, both to the U.S. and the world? What do you think?

Should election results accurately reflect public opinion or should elections promote effective governance?

Is it time to reform the U.S. electoral structure? Should more views be represented? Do narrow interests have too much power?

This short audio on ethics asks: Are nuclear weapons a necessary evil? Is it better to live in a world with nuclear deterrence or one that is free of nuclear threats? What do you think?

Benefits from altruism include approval, enhanced image, and neural stimulation--feeling good. Yet if you act selfishly you will have more resources, and your individual behavior is unlikely to break down society. Everyone has to choose. What will you do?

What do you think maximizes individual benefits in the marketplace? Is it cut throat competition or altruistic norms of fairness and trust? Can you have both?