Unavoidable Ethical Choices Shaping Our Personal and National Character in 2005-06

The United States seeks to be a moral nation. Each year, we must respond to new challenges, many of which have moral issues embedded in them. How we handle these shapes the ethical character of our country.

The Ethics Outlook, developed by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, highlights the ethical dimension of the most important issues we face. For the fourth year, we suggest a "National Ethics Agenda"-six items we believe that Americans should reflect on, taking their most basic values into account.

These agendas are developed by the Center's Emerging Issues Group, a collection of staff, scholars, and Advisory Board members who meet weekly to consider seriously the role that ethics plays in current events. In past years, we have focused attention on such topics as "Security and Terrorism," "Exploring the Limits on Scientific Freedom," and "Addressing Disparities in Income and Wealth." We often do not agree on the best way to approach these issues, but we believe that open dialogue improves all of our thinking and that conscious reflection on the ethical elements of public policy leads to better decisions.

In that spirit, we offer the agenda as a spark for similar discussions in the larger world. The Outlook presentation is filmed, and the video is accessible from our Web site at www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/ethicsoutlook/2005. We also make a DVD of the event available to teachers of applied ethics and allied subjects. If you know teachers who would like to have a copy, please e-mail us at ethics@scu.edu with their contact information.

The Center is also committed to pursuing these questions in its year-round programming. For example, this year's item on "students left behind" will be addressed through character education projects for expelled youth. Immigration will be taken up by our Global Leadership and Ethics Program. We invite you to participate with us in exploring these issues.

Back to Ethics Outlook Agenda