Oswald Malcolm
Centre for Social Ethics and Policy, School of Law, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK,
Health Care Anal. 2015 Mar;23(1):63-72. doi: 10.1007/s10728-013-0239-2.
How can one be both a philosophical ethicist and a democrat? In this article I conclude that it can be difficult to reconcile the two roles. One involves understanding, and reconciling, the conflicting views of citizens, and the other requires the pursuit of truth through reason. Nevertheless, an important function of philosophy and ethics is to inform and improve policy. If done effectively, we could expect better, and more just, laws and policies, thereby benefiting many lives. So applying philosophical thinking to policy is an important job. However, it comes with substantial difficulties, not least in reconciling, or choosing between, competing philosophical theories. Despite the importance of the task, and the apparent obstacles, there is relatively little literature on how to apply ethics to real-world policy-making. Democracies need ethicists who can engage in democratic debate and bridge the gap between philosophy and public policy. I offer some tactics here.
一个人如何能既是一名哲学伦理学家又是一名民主主义者呢？在本文中，我得出的结论是，要协调这两种角色可能会很困难。一种角色涉及理解并调和公民相互冲突的观点，而另一种角色则要求通过理性追求真理。然而，哲学和伦理学的一项重要功能是为政策提供信息并改进政策。如果做得有效，我们可以期待有更好、更公正的法律和政策，从而造福许多人的生活。所以将哲学思维应用于政策是一项重要工作。然而，这伴随着诸多重大困难，尤其是在调和相互竞争的哲学理论或在它们之间做出选择方面。尽管这项任务很重要，且存在明显障碍，但关于如何将伦理学应用于现实世界的政策制定的文献相对较少。民主国家需要能够参与民主辩论并弥合哲学与公共政策之间差距的伦理学家。我在此提供一些策略。
