Globalization
Cross-Cultural Approaches
Cosmopolitanism

The Center for Global Ethics at George Mason University provides a focus for new ethics initiatives across the university and carries out research on normative issues raised by globalization, particularly in regard to the extension of democracy and human rights in transnational contexts. The Center works with the various branches at GMU to institute courses or course modules on ethical issues relevant to a variety of disciplines and the professions. It also works to generate new collaborative research about the ethical and social implications of public policies and professional practices.

The Center co-sponsors lectures and symposia on contemporary problems in applied and social ethics, working to address matters of concern to students and faculty and the broader community. In addition to pursuing research and curricular innovation along these lines, the Center serves as a resource to members of the GMU community interested in studying issues and codes of ethics and links its activities with other centers for ethics and applied ethics in the greater DC region, in the US, and internationally.

The Center also aims to develop new insight, through research and publications, on global ethics per se. This is understood to involve three aspects:

Issues of Globalization and Ethics, that is, ethical questions and dilemmas, whether for individuals or societies, that arise in view of economic, technological, legal, political, social, and cultural globalization.

Cross Cultural Approaches to Ethics, that is, interpretations of ethical doctrines and core ideas based on new dialogue between diverse cultural perspectives.

The possibilities of arriving at Cosmopolitan or Global Ethical Perspectives on such important themes as democracy and human rights, as well as on issues of war and peace.

Email: cgethics@gmu.edu
Updated: March 9, 2006