Ethics
The World For Sale
This is a 2021 Oxford University Press book, which I expected to more on the academic end but leans toward storytelling and a mass market book. The stories are interesting and well told. Book might be a good audiobook for trains or driving. Written by Javier Blas and Jack Farchy, both are journalists. “Without the […]
Tags: #Commodities #Ethics #Globalization #Markets #The World For Sale
The Powers of Mourning and Justice
Judith Butler’s “Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Justice” (2004) was published in the “Radical Thinkers” series of Verso Books. The book is a series of essays written after Sept 11, 2001, collected in this short publication of ~150 pages (of writing, excluding Notes). In the Preface, the author suggests in the years following […]
Cobalt Red
Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives (2022) is a journalistic take on the mining of cobalt in DR Congo, written by Siddharth Kara (the author has published other books on modern slavery). This book focuses on cobalt, the mineral that is critical for nearly all of our rechargeable devices and […]
Thomas Pogge and his critics
The edited collection, Thomas Pogge and His Critics (2010), edited by Alison Jaggar, is an excellent collection of chapters by an exceptional line up of philosophers focused on justice. The critics present a series of challenges, critiques and clarifications for Pogge’s work, such as on positive duties, the inclusion of rights protection, the causes of […]
Tags: #Alison Jaggar #Ethics #Global Justice #Philosophy #Thomas Pogge
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
We are increasingly surrounded by technology, the data collection it employs is not only pervasive but also seemingly unescapable. In 2019 Shoshana Zuboff wrote “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power”, which has gone viral (for a social sciences academic-ish book), being cited nearly 10,000 times […]
Tags: #Ethics #Justice #Power #Privacy #Surveillance Capitalism
Is ChatGPT Manipulating You? (Or Are You Manipulating It?)
I decided to ask ChatGPT about life’s great ethical questions. There are a wide range of ethical theories, many provide answers to these ethical questions, and some of these theories are incompatible with each other (or give specific, distinct answers to them). Which ethical theory might this AI system adopt when asked? In additional to […]
Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur’an
Continuing with a series of posts on democratizing knowledge about ethics (see posts on dignity, justice, and equity), this post covers ethical concepts in the Qur’an, in a book written by Toshihiko Izutsu (1914-1993), a remarkable person (one example: he spoke more than 30 languages). This book being originally written in 1959 and published by Keio University […]
Tags: #Ethico-religious concepts #Ethics #Islam #Quran #Toshihiko Izutsu
Dignity & Rights: An Islamic Perspective
In seeking to democratize thinking about ethics, recent posts have covered Islamic perspectives on justice and equity, this book covers the Islamic perspective of dignity, from the book “The Dignity of Man: An Islamic Perspective” (1999) by Mohammed Hashim Kamali. A few notes: “Islam’s perception of human rights is not premised on the individual verses […]
Equity and Fairness in Islam
One of the courses I have taught across three continents is ethics. Most textbooks (nearly all) are exclusively eurocentric (other than brief nods to other peoples and traditions existing). An interesting conversation we have in class is engaging with how different ethical theories consider equality and equity. In “Equity and Fairness in Islam” (2005) by Mohammad Hashim Kamali provides […]
New Publications (2018, Jan-Mar)
New publications from 2018: Cochrane, L, Boulanger, R. F., Sheikheldin, G. H. and Song, G. (2018) The Case for Local Ethics Oversight in International Development Research. Canadian Journal of Bioethics 1: 8-16. [from journal here] Cochrane, L. and Cafer, A. (2018) Does Diversification Enhance Community Resilience? A Critical Perspective. Resilience. [from journal here] Cochrane, L. and Rao, […]
Tags: #Ethics #Ethiopia #Gender #Research for Development #Resilience
About me
Logan Cochrane
Associate Professor at HBKU in the College of Public Policy. He is an Associate Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences and an Adjunct Professor at Hawassa University (Institute for Policy and Development Research). Over the last fifteen years, he has worked in Afghanistan, Benin, Burundi, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Logan acts as a consultant for governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations, seeking to create bridges between research and practice.
Featured Posts
Tags
Africa Agriculture Aid Anthropology Books Capitalism Civil society Climate change Colonialism Colonization Conflict Culture decolonization Democracy Development Development Studies Economics Education Ethics Ethiopia Ethnography Fellowship Food Security Gender Globalization Governance History Human Rights Inequality Interdisciplinary International development Islam Justice Leadership Middle East Migration Participation Philosophy Policy Politics Post-doc Poverty Power Qatar Racism Resilience Revolution Rural Development South Africa SustainabilitySubscribe to receive new blog posts via email