Political Ethics

Jorge Portilla, in his Fenomenología del Relajo, translated by Carlos Alberto Sánchez, argues that there is a specter haunting Mexican society in the mid-Twentieth Century: the "suspension of seriousness" through the value-denying, community-destroying, bad-faith having, truth-apathetic, laughing-at-everything relajo. Sánchez's insightful investigation of Portilla's text leaves "relajo" untranslated, but offers several explanations for the term, arguing that such a phenomenon is not unique to Mexico, nor to the mid-Twentieth Century. It is a universal concern that is pressing today, at least for (...) those interested in value, community, authenticity, and truth.¹ Portilla suggests an ironic attitude as a means for transcending relajo, the mind-set that is absolutely disinterested in any value, often expressed in repetitive, contagious, and disruptive laughter that undermines personal responsibility and the possibility of genuine community that would otherwise seek truth and solidarity. Indeed, it is an "undiagnosed crisis," but one that can be raised to consciousness via a properly constituted ironic stance. But, what sort of irony, and could such an ironic attitude suffice for Portilla's values? What role might humor play in attaining and sustaining value, community, authenticity, freedom, and truth? Can a humorous-ironic attitude be an antidote against the disease of absolute apathy and permanent suspension of seriousness on the one hand, and the absolute dogmatic spirit of seriousness, what Portilla calls the apretado, on the other? (shrink)

As the climate crisis intensifies, ecological degradation is rendering large areas of the planet increasingly uninhabitable. This slow-onset emergency is producing widespread displacement – millions forced from their homes by rising seas, extreme weather, and environmental collapse. Yet those displaced often remain excluded from formal legal protections, and the countries most responsible for climate change are frequently the least willing to accept them. This paper argues that existing legal definitions – such as ‘refugee’ or ‘migrant’ – fail to capture the (...) structural violence and involuntary nature of climate displacement, allowing states to avoid responsibility under the veneer of legal neutrality. In response, the paper proposes a justice-based framework for ecological displacement, grounded in both immediate humanitarian need and long-term historical culpability. It critiques dominant adaptation and resilience narratives for masking inequality, and instead calls for enforceable protections, equitable migration pathways, and binding commitments from the Global North. Drawing from philosophical, legal, and environmental justice traditions, it reframes climate displacement not as a technical challenge, but as a moral and political crisis requiring structural transformation. (shrink)

The contemporary world is facing multiple crises. Weakness of democracy, ineffectiveness in reducing global poverty and inequality, climate change and many others challenge our capacity to outline and work on both individual and collective responses. For some decades many thinkers have thought that the Rule of Law was somehow well settled in our societies and the task of ethics, in a plural, multicultural and unequal world, consisted in reinforcing the potential of fairness and inclusion that the democratic framework would seem (...) to provide. Nowadays, the intensification of the several crises seems to give us reasons to be less optimistic for the capacities of this approach to materialize universal fairness, sustainability, solidarity and inclusion. Departing from Habermas’ point of view about religion in the public sphere, and on Rawls’ perspective on how different ‘comprehensive doctrines’ may coincide on liberal norms, the article calls for a search into the ancestral wisdoms – ancient moralities and worldviews that both indigenous communities and major religions keep and reproduce, which often were despised and excluded by modernity − for universal epistemic and ethical resources that can contribute to inspire people to drive the subjective and objective transformations needed to achieve the goals of fairness, sustainability and human realization. (shrink)

Social punishments– the informal penalties imposed by private individuals, rather than formal authorities– like the practice of online public shaming have attracted attention from philosophers, other academics, and journalists. Several have emphasized the harmful nature of social punishments, and the tendency of practices like public shaming to be disrespectful and disproportionate. So, what (if anything) justifies practices of social punishment like public shaming? Some authors have pointed out the important role social punishments play in enforcing morally valuable and authoritative norms, (...) like norms against racist or sexist behaviour. In this paper, I argue that while these authors are correct in claiming that social punishments help to enforce valuable norms, their accounts fall short of explaining why private individuals are justified in imposing harm on others. Some obvious and intuitive explanations– like the claim that wrongdoers forfeit their rights against being harmed– fail to show that private individuals are permitted to harm others. As a result, more work needs to be done to develop our accounts of how and why social punishments can be justified. (shrink)

This article offers a dialogue on burgeoning wealth and income inequalities, plutocratic structures, and superrich philanthropy, particularly in emerging economies like India, and how they intersect with debates about global justice. The dialogue opens on the nature of parochialism in dominant-mainstream theoretical frameworks of global justice, their possible West-centric bias, and the deparochial work in the periphery that seeks to address that. The dialogue advances to consider recent trends in the new capitalist order dominated by the superrich, such as: sharply (...) increasing wealth and income gaps; bulging plutocratic structures; pro-business states and regulatory captures; issues of responsible business conduct; intersections of the ethics and politics of superrich philanthropy, and its potential for addressing various socio-economic deprivations. Thomas Pogge shares theoretical and policy insights for a relevant, plural, and effective global justice debate in present times. The dialogue aims to kindle both scholarly and public debates on the responsibilities of the superrich – modern day plutocrats – towards the people that suffer extreme poverty and lack the wherewithal to influence public policies. (shrink)

El concepto de “justa generosidad” en Alasdair MacIntyre hace referencia, de modo general, a la inclusión de la virtud de la misericordia dentro de la virtud de la justicia en el contexto del individuo dependiente. Para entender bien este enunciado que define la “justa generosidad”, nos exige, previamente, una breve explicación narrativa de cómo hemos llegado a este concepto ético siguiendo la propia trayectoria intelectual del filósofo anglosajón. Así, Alasdair MacIntyre, tras haber recalado intelectualmente en las tradiciones marxista, analítica-expresivista y (...) psicoanalítica, se adentra en lo que se ha denominado proyecto After virtue, que culminará con la publicación de su conocido libro After virtue: a study of moral theory. -/- Pudes seguir leyendo el resto de este capítulo en «El concepto de la «justa generosidad» en las relaciones sociales según Alasdair MacIntyre», Montoya Camacho, Jorge Martín; Giménez Amaya, José Manuel. La política del bien común en MacIntyre, J. de la Torre, M. Loria y L. Nontol: Dykinson, (2025): 139-154. Aquí presentamos solo el índice del volumen, con su portada, y la primera página del artículo. (shrink)

This paper reflects on the potential transformative power of faith and Indigenous actors and their ethical perspectives in global environmental governance. It argues that these social actors are becoming vital ethical disruptors and changemakers challenging mainstream normative policy frameworks, but that several factors are hampering the achievement of their full potential. The paper examines the values, ethics and spiritual understandings that drive faith communities’ engagement with environmental issues, highlighting their contribution to a wide but cohesive range of ‘integral ecology’ ethical (...) narratives rooted in values of planetary stewardship and collective bio-interconnectedness. These narratives emphasize the sacredness of all life and advocate for holistic systemic change. This paper calls for a more militant support of methodologies integrating a new kind of transdisciplinary global ethics, inspired by the insights of faith and Indigenous perspectives. (shrink)

En esta entrevista, Raed Abel Chacolla Jauregui (1982), ingeniero industrial egresado de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, comparte su experiencia en el sector asegurador y su visión sobre la gestión de riesgos en el ámbito empresarial. Con una maestría en Dirección de Empresas y Servicios, y una trayectoria profesional que incluye su trabajo en La Positiva Vida y su actual labor en el área técnica de seguros de vida en Protecta Security, Chacolla reflexiona sobre los desafíos y oportunidades (...) en el mercado de seguros y el impacto de la planificación estratégica en la estabilidad financiera. (shrink)

While peacekeeping operations have always been heavily dependent on host-state support and international political backing, changes in the global geopolitical and technological landscapes have presented new forms of state interference intended to influence, undermine, and impair the activities of missions on the ground. Emerging parallel security actors, notably the Wagner Group, have cast themselves as directly or implicitly in competition with the security guarantee provided by peacekeepers, while the proliferation of mis- and disinformation and growing cybersecurity vulnerabilities present novel challenges (...) for missions’ relationships with host states and populations, operational security, and the protection of staff and their local sources. Together, these trends undermine missions’ efforts to protect civilians, operate safely, and implement long-term political settlements. This essay analyzes these trends and the dilemmas they present for in-country UN officials attempting to induce respect for international norms and implement their mandates. It describes nascent strategies taken by missions to maintain their impartiality, communicate effectively, and maintain the trust of those they are charged with protecting, and highlights early good practices for monitoring and analyzing this new operation environment, for reporting on and promoting human rights, and for operating safely. (shrink)

United Nations peacekeeping is experiencing a generational shift as several large missions downsize and close. Amid this change, this essay considers the future of the Protection of Civilians (PoC) mandate, which has been a priority of UN peacekeeping since it was first authorized twenty-five years ago. It argues that PoC has evolved significantly, expanding from a narrow focus on physical protection from immediate threats to a holistic approach that includes establishing a protective environment. It suggests that while the PoC mandate (...) has proven effective in reducing violence, the future is fraught with four significant challenges: waning state commitment to UN peacekeeping, the fragmentation of global peace and security mechanisms, shifting local perceptions in a rapidly changing information landscape, and mounting disillusionment among UN personnel. This essay contends that these obstacles underscore the inherently political nature of PoC, where power dynamics and perceptions profoundly impact mission success. As peacekeeping missions scale back, PoC remains essential but increasingly precarious, demanding strategic adaptability and sustained commitment. Ultimately, the essay argues that without renewed political and institutional dedication, PoC’s effectiveness—and the UN’s credibility—will be difficult to uphold in the face of evolving conflict dynamics and geopolitical shifts. (shrink)

While the UN secretary-general maintains in the 2023 New Agenda for Peace that the impartiality of the United Nations is its strongest asset, the UN is increasingly becoming partial on the ground. The trend that started with the inclusion of the Force Intervention Brigade in the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2013 is accelerating and taking on new forms. The UN has been supporting the African Union Mission in Somalia and providing logistical support to (...) the Group of Five for the Sahel Joint Force in Mali. In December 2023, the UN Security Council agreed on a resolution that should enable the predictability and sustainability of assessed contributions to African-led counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations, on certain conditions. The normative consequences of increased support to African-led interventions are significant and little explored. The UN system, including humanitarian and human rights components, will no longer be able to claim impartiality in countries where the UN is financing African-led interventions that are propping up fledgling regimes against opposition and terrorist groups. This essay will unpack and examine these developments and their consequences for UN peacekeeping and the larger UN system. (shrink)

This article aims to explain the protean nature of the concept of “legitimacy,” arguing that its variability largely stems from denoting a quality of institutions that is both internally complex and sensitive to variations in institutional context. While this institutional-context sensitivity often leads to confusion and miscommunication, it is also what centers the concept’s meaning and use. To better understand legitimacy’s different forms of institutional-context sensitivity, and how they are interconnected, the article shifts from analysis and comparisons of concepts and (...) theories of legitimacy to analysis and comparison of specific legitimacy arguments regarding specific institutions. It introduces a structured framework for analyzing legitimacy claims, beginning with the identification of the institutional level that the argument is directed at. This approach highlights how legitimacy assessments vary across higher and lower institutional levels—a crucial aspect of institutional-context sensitivity that has been underexplored in recent institutional legitimacy literature. The framework, comprising four steps of analysis and two supporting figures, advances our understanding of the complex nature of institutions’ legitimacy and underscores the importance of distinguishing between the legitimacy of an institution and the legitimacy within an institution. Throughout, the article illustrates the framework with examples drawn from scholarly debates on the legitimacy of the International Criminal Court. (shrink)

There is a plurality of reasons for taking wildlife conservation seriously. These reasons include nonanthropocentric ones based on animal ethics. But in an unequal world, global conservation can impose disproportional burdens on people who are already disadvantaged. What are some of these costs, and how can we better reconcile what we owe to people as a matter of global justice with what we owe to animals? We can call this the global justice challenge of wildlife conservation. While advances in animal (...) ethics and animal science have contributed to our understanding of the animal side of conservation morality, what we owe to people in the context of conservation is comparatively underdeveloped. The two books under review are valuable contributions to this discussion. Security and Conservation by Rosaleen Duffy is an exposé of the hidden conservation costs that are borne by people in the Global South. The author specifically scrutinizes the moral costs of the securitization and militarization of wildlife protection. Global Justice and the Biodiversity Crisis by Chris Armstrong is the first book-length normative inquiry into the global justice challenges that arise from biodiversity conservation. Together, these books draw our attention to the justice problems that can arise from conservation itself and point to where more work needs to be done if we want to harmonize our duties to animals and people. (shrink)

Long viewed as an example of effective multilateralism, UN peace operations are facing mounting challenges. Transformations in the landscape of conflict are outpacing their ability to respond. Rising expectations of peacekeeping have led to disenchantment with what they can deliver, while dis- and misinformation tactics undermine the efforts of the UN to make and build peace. As UN peace operations risk becoming another casualty of intensifying international tensions, great power rivalry, and the erosion of the rules and norms that govern (...) international cooperation, we consider the future of UN peace operations. In the debate between a “pragmatic” and an “adaptive” approach to peacekeeping, we argue that a fundamental question is the ability of both alternatives to address three recurring issues that have shaped the effectiveness and legitimacy of peace operations: the mismatch between ambitious mandates and limited resources; the gap between the protection of civilians objective and its implementation in practice; and growing difficulties in honoring the principles of impartiality. We argue that policymakers and researchers should not lose sight of the fact that peacekeeping's legitimacy depends on its adherence to some version of host-state consent and some kind of restriction on when and how force is used. The expectation of civilian populations that the UN stands for protection also means that the UN must continue to safeguard some key norms associated with peacekeeping. (shrink)

Can United Nations peace operations improve their effectiveness and strengthen longer-term positive legacies in host nations by shifting to greater use of renewable energy? Since the end of the Cold War and the growth of modern UN peace operations, attention has been focused on the missions’ mandate of supporting political strategies for peace and core objectives such as protecting civilians. Could missions better meet their mandate with improved energy options and reduced emissions, or is there a trade-off with the core (...) objectives? As the missions are nearly fully dependent on diesel generators to power their operations, what is the UN’s responsibility to reduce emissions at a time when addressing climate change is a priority of the UN Secretary-General? Is there an ethical case to make for the UN to support greater use of renewable energy where it operates? And could the UN partner with host nations and others to support a shift in energy use that benefits the communities that host peace operations? This essay argues that missions could reduce their emissions and leverage their energy needs to increase security, strengthen ties to local communities, increase energy access, and support the climate goals of host nations. Drawing on case studies in recent peacekeeping missions and the author’s review of UN commitments across mandates, the Sustainable Development Goals, peacebuilding, and climate goals, this essay will address this area of potential innovation that can help build a positive legacy for UN missions and countries emerging from conflict. (shrink)

This article presents in a programmatic form the task of continental philosophy today. My starting point is one of the major challenges – if not the major challenge – today for all academic research, including philosophy, namely, global warming. I show how my specific subfield, continental philosophy, can pick up this challenge and contribute to the discussion. I claim that global warming requires us to reconfigure the field of philosophy and reformulate many of its fundamental problems. I will single out (...) three major problematics. The first, the question ‘what is thinking?,’ starts by a kind of existential analytic of being-in-the-world of global warming and shows how it leads to reconfiguring what counts as thinking in terms of a kind of rational imagination. The second, the question ‘what is world? shows why the classical phenomenological concept of world needs to be reformulated in the global context. The third, the question of ethics and politics, shows how the relation of existents (human beings and other living beings) to the world, the concept of ethical agency, and the concept of political community need to be reformulated in the context of global warming. (shrink)

The paper examines how the capability approach, as developed by Sen and Nussbaum, would fare as a guide for ethical reasoning when confronted with a catastrophic future. The analysis responds to Tim Mulgan’s Ethics for a Broken World, in which he imagines a world devastated by climate change and then investigates whether today’s philosophy would be of any help under those circumstances. In order to grasp how approaches would have to transform to deal with such a future, I modify Mulgan’s (...) method from a comparative static (‘broken’) examination to a dynamic (‘breaking’) one. The capability approach is tested against problems related to justifying intervention, new conceptions of responsibility in the face of catastrophe, and dealing with demands of impartial attention to humanitarian needs. I suggest that the capability approach is useful in reflections about intervention and may also offer clues to deal with responsibility issues. However, impartiality problems seem beyond what the approach can handle at the moment, perhaps because of its close connection to the idea of justice. Giving more attention to the ethics of security is suggested as a possible way forward instead. (shrink)

The paper explores the dialectic of human nature in the age of digital technologies. To this end, the paper contrasts the classical model of Homo Economicus, a rational agent for whom existence is reduced to a set of factors of economic nature, and the concept of Homo Cyberneticus. This concept arises from the symbiosis between humans and algorithms, in which the products of technology turn from external tools into a component of cognitive processes. The author proves that neurointerfaces, AI and (...) blockchain, contrary to the opinion of technophobes, actualise the issues of freedom and meaning, turning man into a ‘process’ of self-determination. A key paradox: algorithms, while threatening autonomy, simultaneously enhance humanity. The author's conclusion is that technologies do not replace but redefine the human, and in this sense Homo Cyberneticus is presented as a ‘process’ of redefining goals and values. In such a context, technology does not replace but rather enhances the human, turning challenges into tools of self-discovery and development. // В статье исследуется диалектика человеческой природы в эпоху цифровых технологий. С этой целью в работе противопоставляются классическая модель Homo Economicus, рационального агента, для которого существование сведено к комплексу факторов экономической природы, и концепт Homo Cyberneticus. Данный концепт возникает из симбиоза человека с алгоритмами, в рамках которого продукты технологий из внешних инструментов превращаются в составляющую когнитивных процессов. Автор доказывает, что нейроинтерфейсы, ИИ и блокчейн, вопреки мнению технофобов, актуализируют вопросы свободы и смысла, превращая человека в «процесс» самоопределения. Ключевой парадокс: алгоритмы, угрожая автономии, одновременно усиливают человечность. Вывод, который делает автор, заключается в том, что технологии не заменяют, а переопределяют человеческое, и в этом смысле Homo Cyberneticus представлен как «процесс» переосмысления целей и ценностей. В таком контексте технологии не заменяют, а напротив, усиливают человеческое, превращая вызовы в инструменты самопознания и развития. (shrink)

In this paper, I explore possible ways forward in the contemporary context of calls for decolonizing or abolishing development. I propose more exchange and greater integration between care ethics and development ethics. Care theory offers a valuable, alternative lens to evaluate development as a form of transnational care practice. I aim to demonstrate two key points: (i) the compatibility between the ethical frameworks in care ethics and development ethics, and (ii) the potential of recent advances in care theory to address (...) the valid concerns raised by decolonial scholars about the historical complicity of care practices in the oppression of marginalized groups. (shrink)

A quarter of the way through the twenty-first century, there are no great illusions about the state of world affairs. The return of interstate war and disruptive lurches towards deglobalisation suggest a markedly different context from that in which the Journal of Global Ethics has developed. At the end of another ‘golden age of security’ there exists an awareness of an old order no longer fit for purpose, a recognition of new forces emerging, the need for change, the necessity of (...) making tough choices, all alongside great difficulty in imagining how any of it might occur. What do global ethics look like in a world that is fracturing and breaking apart? What normative possibilities exist in the midst of polycrisis? In these conditions of increasing fragmentation and spreading conflict, a feasible agenda for global ethics would appear to be one that is much more minimal and defensive in scope. (shrink)

This article explores the ‘moral labour’ of national aid professionals in Jordan, particularly in their interactions with ‘Northern-led’ humanitarian organisations. It sheds light on the complexities of navigating different moralities within a humanitarian system that is shaped by unequal power relations and ongoing coloniality, highlighting the additional labour that is placed upon national professionals in this context. Building on decolonial studies, the research situates the moral tensions and moral labour within broader historical and structural power dynamics. It thereby illustrates the (...) additional layers of moral labour that national professionals must undertake to navigate and reconcile personal beliefs, professional roles, and different interests, while operating in a system that marginalises their expertise. By focusing on the often-overlooked perspectives and experiences of national aid workers, this study offers new insights into the role of morality in humanitarian aid work and brings attention to the invisible and often unrecognised moral labour integral to aid work. The article underscores the need for a more equitable humanitarian system that values diverse knowledges and moralities, and acknowledges and compensates the moral labour of national professionals. (shrink)

A recurring methodological mistake within the ‘dirty hands’ literature, the view that politicians must sometimes justifiably commit real moral wrongs, has been to assume that only a specific kind of choice structure creates the space for justifiable dirtying. Instead, I argue that the circumstances that justify political dirt are not monolithic and identify three separate ways in which dirtying conduct can become all-things-considered justifiable. Dirty Episodes cover instances of delineable episodic decisions that inflict dirt, and where such dirtying behaviour is (...) justifiable as a lesser evil–I also argue that ‘ticking-bomb’ cases that usually serve this function in philosophy should be decentred. Dirty Careers covers the quotidian moral dirt demanded by politics as a career (without necessarily demanding an entirely separate political normativity). Dirty Rules concerns the contingent structural factors and ‘terms of the competition’ that undesirably demand or legitimise dirtying behaviour from political agents. -/- . (shrink)

The orange hand is waving frantically broh. Ought we to jump into the river or not? Stay tuned for a collection of thoughts riddled with noetic contradictions and repurposed political anxiety. Resist in whatever way presents itself to you broh. Then abide.

This paper explores the issue of racial bias in artificial intelligence (AI) through the lens of the bioethical principle of justice, with a focus on Joy Buolamwini’s “Coded Bias” and the work of the “Algorithmic Justice League.” AI technologies, particularly facial recognition systems, have been shown to disproportionately misidentify individuals from marginalised racial groups, raising profound ethical concerns about fairness and equity. The bioethical principle of justice stresses the importance of equal treatment and the protection of vulnerable populations. Through qualitative (...) research, including content analysis of Buolamwini’s works and case studies of AI bias, this paper assesses the efforts of the Algorithmic Justice League to combat racial bias in AI. It emphasises their advocacy for the development of fair, equitable algorithms and calls for systemic reform in AI development to ensure justice for marginalised communities. (shrink)

Freedom and security are often portrayed as things that have to be traded off against one another, but this view does not capture the full complexity of the freedom-security relationship. Rather, there seem to be four different ways in which freedom and security connect to each other: freedom can come at the cost of security, security can come at the cost of freedom, freedom can work to the benefit of security, and security can work to the benefit of freedom. This (...) paper analyses each of these connections in turn. It shows that particular understandings of freedom can help us to see particular connections between freedom and security. The practical examples used to illustrate these connections are drawn from the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be suggested that, in the face of challenges such as this one, taking into account all four connections between freedom and security can ultimately help decision-makers in upholding both. (shrink)

Lee argues that pronatalist policies in countries suffering from declining birth rates, such as South Korea, are ethically flawed.1 The ‘soft’ pronatalist policies Lee describes aim at persuading citizens to reproduce. For Lee, coercive pronatalist policies are so obviously unacceptable as not to merit consideration. However, we suggest that this is an issue that requires further analysis. When ethicists regard certain possibilities as not worth debating, we miss opportunities to examine the basis for our convictions. In short, it behoves us (...) now and again to challenge our convictions, especially if they seem inconsistent in relation to other views we hold. By comparing coercive pronatalism with enforced military conscription, we can notice some inconsistencies. South Korea—which Lee discusses in her paper—enforces military service, as do Austria, Switzerland, Ukraine and Finland to name a few. Many countries that do not currently conscript citizens retain the right to do so during wartime. Conscription is an example of coercive state intervention which, even if not widely endorsed, rarely generates outrage or even attention from ethicists.2 For those who accept that coercive conscription could in principle be justified, it is not easy to show why coercive pronatalism must be rejected without argument. Indeed, many of those who are alarmed about declining birth rates …. (shrink)

Moralismus ist, allgemein gesprochen, ein Missbrauch oder zumindest falscher Umgang mit der Moral. „Moralismus“ ist deswegen ein Vorwurf. Aber es gibt verschiedene Formen eines falschen oder missbräuchlichen Umgangs mit der Moral und damit einhergehend verschiedene Moralismus-Vorwürfe. In diesem Essay werden vier Formen des Moralismus unterscheiden und in der Migrationsdebatte verortet.

Democratic party politics requires compromises. A question that has hardly been tackled in normative political theory is how political parties ought to navigate these compromises. In this paper, I would like to explore this question from the specific perspective of classical liberal political parties. My focus will mostly be on parties in Western European countries with proportional representation and multi-party systems like Denmark, Germany, or the Netherlands, where liberal parties have often taken an active role in coalition governments.

It is circumstantial enough to merit that the Filipinos, even those who are educated seem to not to get out of the cycle of the conservative thought. The Filipino people elect politicians notwithstanding their wrongdoings and lack of accomplishments. This behavior is popularly connotated as “bobotante behavior”, to which this paper intends to prove otherwise. The Eichmann problem is a derivative of philosophy where it influences the morality and rationality of a political being, as such will be used in this (...) opus as a framework for debunking the “bobotante phenomenon”. The researchers attempt to explicate reconciliation between the Eichmann problem and the minds and behaviors of the Filipino people in their political participation. This study thereby poses the debunking of the term “bobotante” as it subjects the phenomenon to a philosophical concept that shall be a contribution to the research on political theories. (shrink)

The reconciliation of high medieval philosophical theories and its praxis is expressed in this opus. The “oust Duterte” petition is a move not of an individual political being but rather of a political sphere upon which the individual is subjected to. The role of philosophy has always been subjected to the endeavor of continuously seeking the truth. The truth is categorized as logical and ontological, where it is hermeneutically subjected to the philosophical engagement proponents of ontology and logic, St. Anselm (...) of Canterbury, and St. Thomas Aquinas respectively. The highlight of this paper is explicating the inviolability of the ruler – constituent relationship under the interpretation of ontology and logic. The contribution of this opus is its pure philosophical engagement into a situation which is material, as such that the latter is viewed by its antecedent vis a vis the evolution of the philosophical theories presented as modalities. (shrink)

Governments increasingly use their fiscal policy to attract mobile capital from abroad. This tax competition puts a strain on the international fiscal system by undermining the capacity of states to make autonomous fiscal choices and by exacerbating inequalities. The existing regulatory framework is not able to address these challenges. Yet, what considerations should guide our efforts for reform? This chapter argues that a first necessary step consists in understanding the principles that justify the state as the principal locus of fiscal (...) control in the first place. Building on an account of the legitimacy of the state and its fiscal powers, the chapter shows how tax competition is in tension with the principal objectives this account assigns to the state. It then outlines a normative response to tax competition that relies on both reforming jurisdictional rules and redistribution between states. (shrink)

Clearly nature does not care about human suffering. Culture does not care either due to the pressures of marketplace. ------ It has been said that God's omnipotence, omniscience and perfect goodness is not reconcilable with suffering and existence of evil. The only solution seems to be that the most divine attribute is indifference. Contra Leibniz, the world is not the best possible world but the most indifferent possible world. ------ Habermas says the 'Never Again' principle must lead to a German (...) commitment to protecting Jewish life and Israel's right to exist. We know what German commitment means in the current political climate ... then the reports of the end of world war II are greatly exaggerated. ------ Strategy I: Mend the marketplace. Strategy II: Do not reproduce and die ASAP. Leave this beautiful world to those who want it so badly (colonials). (shrink)

The Prosecutor in Camus’ novel claims to have peered into Meursault’s soul but found nothing human in there. But the nothingness attests to Meursault embodying something like a musical instrument through which the world plays its music. Meursault does not initiate anything that in the presence of standing conditions causes a change in environment—aside from physical needs which are also immensely flexible and dependent on existing circumstances. He himself constitute the standing conditions awaiting external factors to cause any change. Meursault’s (...) radical indifference and acceptance towards the world and authenticity (his speech and his deed are perfectly coordinated) (his thought and his speech are the same except situation where out of consideration for others he keeps silent) indicates that he has no sickness unto death undergoing life or in anticipation of his death. What the prosecutor announces amounts to Meursault’s existence preceding his essence (given his openness to the world despite his acute rationality and understanding of his environment). But if existence precedes essence, the method precedes existence. He roams the world already equipped with a method. ------------ Abstract II: ---------- What is something that it is not a being? The question implicates there be something that it is not a being but that into which beings as a whole in one's existence slipped into in sickness unto death. Meursault brings to consciousness (of the chaplain) the sickness unto death separated from absurdity by a transparent sheet. Something to which he himself was not susceptible out of his own life-affirmative reasoning. (shrink)

In the discussion of global ethics, philosophical ethics risks losing its distinct theoretical horizons. This predicament arises primarily from philosophy's failure to anchor its own object and to provide a rational basis for global justice from within its current confined theoretical paradigm. Against this background, this paper will first prioritize global co-existence as the primary concern of global ethics, then propose ontological co-existence justice as its foundational principle, and finally argue that the normative validity of co-existence justice is predicated on (...) the nations fulfilling the critical requirements of modern civilization, namely, the advancement of individual freedom. (shrink)

Drawing its strength from the UN Charter and UDHR, human rights ethics is a beacon of hope and a promise that requires continuous reaffirmation during these turbulent times. These two documents, with their unwavering faith in ‘fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small,’ have shaped our understanding of human rights as global and universal ethics. However, this faith is now being severely (...) tested by four countercurrents: extremism, exclusionism, selectivism, and populism. These countercurrents pose significant and urgent human rights threats that activists, academics, and policymakers must confront by reasserting the basic core values of the UN Charter and UDHR. (shrink)

As part of the “Solar Geoengineering: Ethics, Governance, and International Politics” roundtable, this essay examines dilemmas arising in exploring nonideal scenarios of solar geoengineering deployment. Model-based knowledge about solar geoengineering tells us little about possible climatic responses to malicious, self-interested, or competing deployments, and even less about political or cultural responses outside of the climate system. The essay argues that policy for governing solar geoengineering in a world of multiple states and uneven power relations requires a broader base for solar (...) geoengineering knowledge, beyond that offered by modeling, and a better understanding of nonideal scenarios, especially those motivated by logics beyond reducing climate impacts. It highlights the interests of military and security actors in such knowledge, and the potential for it to facilitate securitization and further reduce the prospect of multilateral collaborative governance of geoengineering in the public interest. The essay concludes that further research can be ethically justified but must be comprehensively governed. (shrink)

Amid Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, the human rights community has understandably focused its attention on human rights violations committed by the Russian state. This has, however, left the human rights implications of the martial law Ukraine has put in place for civilians largely unexamined. This essay highlights the ways Ukraine's travel restriction on “battle-aged” civilian men has harmed three overlapping groups—civilian men, the families of the men (including women and children), and trans and nonbinary individuals—and shows that the restriction (...) runs counter to important principles in international human rights and humanitarian law. It then considers the ethical dilemmas faced by the international human rights community in addressing such harms, and the political psychology of rights advocacy that may explain the tendency to underplay this particular set of human rights issues. Nonetheless, the essay ultimately argues that advocates should hold actors—including and perhaps especially those with which they may sympathize—accountable to the human rights standards to which they have pledged. (shrink)

Much mainstream political philosophy assumes that states have a broad right to decide who is granted entry and membership into their political community. On this conventional view, admission of migrants and refugees is understood as mostly a matter of general humanitarian duty or voluntary beneficence rather than as a specific obligation of justice. Through an analysis of climate-related migration from Central America's Dry Corridor to the United States, I argue that many such migrants may in fact be owed admission as (...) reparation for injustice, and that the character of this injustice raises broader challenges for the conventional view. (shrink)

This essay argues that Russia's war on Ukraine and the post-Soviet experience, more generally, reveal ethical, empirical, and theoretical problems in the study of nationalism in the region; namely, the tendency to designate anti-colonial, non-Russian nationalism as a “bad” ethnic type and the related tendency to see opposition to it as a “good” civic, nationalist agenda while in reality, the latter agenda can be imperial. Conflation of imperialism with civic nationalism and underappreciation of the democratic potential of non-Russian nationalism are (...) problematic. The essay argues that these problems stem from theorizing about ethnic and civic nationalism that is rooted in abstract principles and does not take into account the empirical realities in which specific policies originate. I suggest that a more ethically and theoretically accurate characterization of types of nationalism as good or bad can be achieved by applying a methodology that takes into account not only formal markers of “ethnic” and “civic” policies but also the realities proponents and opponents of a given policy seek to establish and undo, the methods by which these realities come into being, and the constraints on employing illiberal methods that political actors face. (shrink)

In this essay, we bridge the gap between two understandings of the power of the European Union (EU): as a normative actor, guided by ethical principles and empowered by the internal market, and as a geopolitical actor, building its own military capabilities and ready to defend its interests through deterrence and defense. In view of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, we challenge the established “values vs. interests” dichotomy and argue that defending liberal democratic values is an essential foundation of the EU's (...) existing and potential geopolitical power. We show how, over the last decade, opting for short-term expediency and capitulating to a kind of realpolitik “regime indifference” in dealings with authoritarian regimes at home and abroad have severely weakened the EU and also diminished Ukraine's capacities to defend itself as it fights for these shared values on the battlefield. We argue that it is in the EU's strategic interest to strengthen its commitment to values-based foreign and defense policies, revive a meritocratic and credible enlargement process, and work with the United States to provide more effective military assistance to Ukraine in its fight for liberal democratic values and a rules-based European security order. (shrink)