Living Ethics in Theory and Practice

This volume advances a new approach to ethics: “living ethics”. As an ethical and philosophical orientation, living ethics offers a refreshing perspective on how difficult human situations become opportunities for co-learning and co-creative ethical thinking. Living ethics starts with the observation that moral problems are living and vital problems that affect our daily lives. It orients scholarship and practice by using theory in a pragmatic way to solve real-life problems, by fostering spaces for dialogical reflection on these problems, and by working closely together with stakeholders to co-imagine solutions. Central to living ethics are human flourishing, interconnectedness, dialogue, responsiveness, moral spaces, and epistemic justice and humility. The chapters in this volume are divided into three parts. The first part introduces and discusses ideas central to living ethics such as ethics as a way of life, co-learning, and epistemic humility. The second part features several examples of practices and projects informed by a living ethics stance in wide-ranging contexts such as public policy, substance use, healthcare, aging, and research. The third part features open-ended discussions and reflections on models of governance and implementation to propel ideas central to living ethics in areas such as international relationships, education, research ethics, and healthcare. Living Ethics in Theory and Practice will be of interest to a wide range of scholars, graduate students and practitioners working notably in ethics, philosophy and the humanities, social science, psychology, healthcare, and policy.