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1776, he proposed a philosophy of human rights inherent in all people, “We hold
these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty
and the pursuit of Happiness…” (U.S. Declaration of Independence 1776). And
then U.S. President Abraham Lincoln made the document—this moral standard—
into the centerpiece of his policies, as witnessed most notably in the Gettysburg
Address of 1863, when he argued that the Declaration of Independence is a statement of principles through which the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted
(U.S. President Lincoln 1863). It was ethical engagement that highlighted the principles of the Enlightenment, and it was ethical engagement that then translated
those ethical principles into law and governance.
Ethical engagement helps us to highlight harms, the perpetrators and the victims.
Philosophy has a crucial role in “bringing more discipline and greater reach to
reflections on values and priorities, as well as on the denials, subjugations, and
humiliations from which human beings suffer across the world” (Sen 2009). John
Rawls saw “justice as fairness,” and that the principles of liberty and equality should
be applied to protect the least advantaged among us (Rawls 1951; Sen 2009). He
pointed to the “moral powers that people have, related to their capacity for a sense
of justice and for a conception of the good” (Sen 2009).
Ethical engagement allows us to address the root causes of our crises, and to
analyze the values that led to our crises. For example, Don Brown believes that
instrumental rationality is the greatest challenge to ethical thinking and acting
(Brown 2018). Instrumental rationality is operationalized throughout law and governance; it looks at what is most efficient or cost-beneficial, absent of the values
involved. Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) saw the harm of instrumental rationality,
and made the connection between morality and governance. He believed that political moralists “fashion their morality to suit their own advantage as a statesman”
(Brown 2018). They “wield power on Earth…” by “advocating might instead of
right” and “[making their] principles subordinate to [their] end” (Kant 2009).
Jürgen Habermas saw “the colonization of the lifeworld” occurring due to our
instrumental systems, which he defined as money and power, and that, “[The] tendency of the system to colonize the lifeworld leads to greater fragility and to disequilibrium or instability… and crises in the system” (Finlayson 2005). “As the
domain of the lifeworld shrinks… social pathologies arise:
1. Decrease in shared meanings and mutual understanding (anomie—or a lack of
ethical standards in an individual or group)
2. Erosion of social bonds (disintegration)
3. Increase in people’s feelings of helplessness to take responsibility for their
actions and for social phenomenon (demoralization); and
4. Destabilization and breakdown in social order (social instability)”
(Finlayson 2005).
Lifeworld, a concept first used by German philosopher Edmund Husserl
(1859–1938), is the everyday world we share with others. It is the “informal and
unmarketized domains of social life: family and household, culture, political life
K. A. Gwiazdon
1776, he proposed a philosophy of human rights inherent in all people, “We hold
these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty
and the pursuit of Happiness…” (U.S. Declaration of Independence 1776). And
then U.S. President Abraham Lincoln made the document—this moral standard—
into the centerpiece of his policies, as witnessed most notably in the Gettysburg
Address of 1863, when he argued that the Declaration of Independence is a statement of principles through which the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted
(U.S. President Lincoln 1863). It was ethical engagement that highlighted the principles of the Enlightenment, and it was ethical engagement that then translated
those ethical principles into law and governance.
Ethical engagement helps us to highlight harms, the perpetrators and the victims.
Philosophy has a crucial role in “bringing more discipline and greater reach to
reflections on values and priorities, as well as on the denials, subjugations, and
humiliations from which human beings suffer across the world” (Sen 2009). John
Rawls saw “justice as fairness,” and that the principles of liberty and equality should
be applied to protect the least advantaged among us (Rawls 1951; Sen 2009). He
pointed to the “moral powers that people have, related to their capacity for a sense
of justice and for a conception of the good” (Sen 2009).
Ethical engagement allows us to address the root causes of our crises, and to
analyze the values that led to our crises. For example, Don Brown believes that
instrumental rationality is the greatest challenge to ethical thinking and acting
(Brown 2018). Instrumental rationality is operationalized throughout law and governance; it looks at what is most efficient or cost-beneficial, absent of the values
involved. Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) saw the harm of instrumental rationality,
and made the connection between morality and governance. He believed that political moralists “fashion their morality to suit their own advantage as a statesman”
(Brown 2018). They “wield power on Earth…” by “advocating might instead of
right” and “[making their] principles subordinate to [their] end” (Kant 2009).
Jürgen Habermas saw “the colonization of the lifeworld” occurring due to our
instrumental systems, which he defined as money and power, and that, “[The] tendency of the system to colonize the lifeworld leads to greater fragility and to disequilibrium or instability… and crises in the system” (Finlayson 2005). “As the
domain of the lifeworld shrinks… social pathologies arise:
1. Decrease in shared meanings and mutual understanding (anomie—or a lack of
ethical standards in an individual or group)
2. Erosion of social bonds (disintegration)
3. Increase in people’s feelings of helplessness to take responsibility for their
actions and for social phenomenon (demoralization); and
4. Destabilization and breakdown in social order (social instability)”
(Finlayson 2005).
Lifeworld, a concept first used by German philosopher Edmund Husserl
(1859–1938), is the everyday world we share with others. It is the “informal and
unmarketized domains of social life: family and household, culture, political life
K. A. Gwiazdon