Ethics and Public Policy: Method and Cases

Thisbook presents three systematic methods for analyzing public policy issues: utilitarianism, deontology, and prudent pragmatism. It argues for the superiority of prudent pragmatism to the other two approaches. These are described in Part One, together with substantive American values which form the assumptons of ethical analysis. Part Two contains an historical discussion of six public policy areas and presents two detailed case studies in each area. Each case is analysed from the standpoint of utilitarian, deontological, and prudent pragmatic ethics, and an effort is made to show why prudent pragmatism produces the most satisfying results