Dyck, Arthur J.

English

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 48 | Number 1 Article 152-1-1981[Book Review of ] Ethical Dilemmas and theEducation of Policymakers, by Joel L. Fleishman andBruce L. PayneArthur J. DyckFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqPart of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, and the Medicine and Health SciencesCommonsRecommended CitationDyck, Arthur J. (1981) "[Book Review of] Ethical Dilemmas and the Education of Policymakers, by Joel L. Fleishman and Bruce L.Payne," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 48: No. 1, Article 15.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol48/iss1/15Ethical Dilemmas and the Education 0/ Policymakers Joel L. Fleishman and Bruce L. Payne Instilute of' Society , Ethics, and the Lif'e Sciences, Hastings Center, Hastings-on-Hudson, N. Y., 1980, 76 pp. This book is written with the firm belief that "th e education of public officials can inc,·ease t h e li kelihood that they will act more ethicall y - that they will be more sensitive to the responsibilities they have undertaken , more alert to the con-sequences of their acts , mOl"e careful in observing the laws and rules that regulate conduct " (p. xii). The authors are concerned that ethical issues are centra l in no more than 10 percent of the public policy curriculum anywhere in t his country and that the majo,·ity of students has essentially no exposure to self-conscious reflection on ethica l issues. They set out, t herefore, to analyze why this is so in the first section of their brief monograph. The next two sections consist of recom-mendations to remedy the current lack of ethical instruction (sect ion II) and to illustrate and discuss ethical problems of policymaking (section III). The authors see the weakening of mora l concern as largely the result of a new emphasis on ana lytic techniques that encourage a narrowly practical and tech-nological view of policymaking. They mention the stress pu t on efficiency and on cost-benefit ana ly ses that do not pay suffici ent attention to the costs of unethical con duct. To he lp remedy the lack of ethical instruction and the decreasing concern with eth ica l issues, the authors suggest required and elective courses. These courses shoul d help pol icy makers a nd policy analysts (1) recognize "quickly the many ethical dilemmas of the ir work"; (2) develop "ski lls of ethical analysis"; (3) raise "the level of moral anxiety " ; (4) encourage thought about "long-range or funda-mental issues of the political order"; and (5) develop " moral character, self-under-standing, and a live ly sense of personal obligation" (pp. 11-12) . They would expect faculty members who teach courses with these aims to have at least one year of g,·aduate work in ethics and at least one year in policy. The las t and longest section (III) of the book is devoted to specific analyses of moral dilemmas and some specific discussion of moral principles and values. Since most policy has the public good as its declared aim, the authors assert that it deserves ge ne ral scru t iny with respect to its moral dimensions . In addition, how-ever, they see three circumstances that spec ifically call for ethical analysis: "( 1) when the duty of the official is unclear, either because of obligations that con flict , or because of a con flict between an obligation an d legitimate self-inte rest ; (2) when the exte nt to which particular values are embodied in alter-nat ive policy options is di sputed 0'· insuffici ently understood; (3) whe n the norms or principles guiding policy are themselves uncl ea r or contradictory" (p. 15). This monograph is Number VIII in a ser ies on the teaching of ethics put out by the Hastings Center. As suc h , it is part of a laudabl e effort to stimulate ethical awareness a nd the teaching of ethics in hi gher education. The major potential value of the effort by Fleishman and Payn e would be to stimulate educators and policy mak ers to find out a great deal more about e thics and ethical decision-making than is contained in their bri ef monograph . There are some serious shortcomings in this monograph. One has to do with the relation between obligation and self-inte res t. What do the authors mean by "legitimate" self-in te rest a nd why would one c hoose self-interest as a morally jus-tifiable course of action when the pursuit of it violates a moral obligation? One February, 1981 87 hopes that the authors consider self-interest " legitimate" when it is in pursuit of a moral duty more weighty than some other moral duty with which it conflicts. However, this is not at all clear. For example, they posit the justifiability of cer-tain li es to protect the privacy of individuals in matters such as adu ltery. They do not seem to be concerned that the willingness to deceive a spouse and to pursue certain pleasures may themselves be a violation of obligations and the cultivation of a way of life prone to lying under a whole range of circum stances. Another shortcoming of the present monograph stems from a fai lure. to analyze the concept of "the public good." Is it to be understood in terms of realizing moral principles such as justice, the protection of individual rights, and the moral flourishing of the community, or in terms of realizing non-moral goals such as the gene"al happiness? While they decry narrow utilitarian arguments, they do not ex plicitly indicate whether they would consider a decision as ethically justified if it maximized the attainment of certain non-moral goods while violating certain strictly moral goods, such as protection of an individual right or telling the truth . These are not inconsequential questions to raise, especially since they treat utility as a principle, separate it from t heir di scussion of justice, and never explic itly rec-ognize t hat a ca lculation which maximizes the attainment of certain goods for the greater majority is seen by some as a concept of justice, one which contrasts sharply with the notion of justice that insists o n strict equality of basic rights and requires policies to be especially advantageous to the least-advantaged. While it is praiseworthy t hat the F leishman and Payne monograph indulges in moral reasoning, some of it very sensitive and well-informed , some of the most important t heoretical issues of eth ics are left untidy and open the door to the potential justification of some possibly unwise and immoral policy decisions. One way to state it is that they are much more prone to justify lying because of the looseness of their views of the public good. They say, for example, that " li es will continue to be told, and be approved by many as well" (p. 27). One would think that this approval by many is precisely what a teacher of ethics in policymaking ought to chall enge and what courses in ethics are des igned to combat. In the end, therefore, this monograph is only partly successfu l in encouraging better ethical thinking and conduct. It does ra ise some good points regarding the costliness of lying and the other moral wrongs explicitly analyzed. - Arthur J . Dyck Mary B. Salton stall Professor of Population Ethics Harvard University Birth Control - Why Are They Lying to Women? Dr. Jose Espinosa Vantage Press, New York, 1980, 110 pp. A new ideology surfaced within the medical profession during the 1970's. This ideology is "advocate science" and it allies the m edical profession with the advo-cate journalists, the advocate socia l sc ientists and the advocate educators in seek-ing to establish assent to the values of a contraceptive mentali ty . This book seeks to shine a light on the dark corners of advocacy to illuminate what has been con-cealed from the public at large to the detriment of informed consent. The author 88 Linacre Quarterly 

[Book Review of] \u3cem\u3eEthical Dilemmas and the Education of Policymakers,\u3c/em\u3e by Joel L. Fleishman and Bruce L. Payne

https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2509&amp;context=lnq

[Book Review of] \u3cem\u3eEthical Dilemmas and the Education of Policymakers,\u3c/em\u3e by Joel L. Fleishman and Bruce L. Payne

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