Global Ethics

Welcome to the Global Ethics research group!

The faculty affiliated with this group are deeply concerned about questions or challenges that are global in nature. Formally, “global ethics” is a field of inquiry that addresses ethical questions and problems arising out of the global interconnection and interdependence of the world’s population; informally, it is an area of research that engages and contextualizes contemporary ethical issues in their global context. As Christians, we think of this field as the context for pursuing peace and justice in a global context, whether in the form of human rights, environmental ethics, freedom of religion, poverty, global health, international aid and development, international relations, migration and immigration, or conflict and violence.

In a world that is increasingly interdependent, the field of global ethics provides a structured way forward beyond pessimistic resignation about the seeming opposition of national, religious, and cultural traditions. Further, through this approach, we can even examine and evaluate broader interpretive frameworks—for example, internationalism, globalism, or cosmopolitanism—for engaging global challenges. Finally, thinking in terms of global ethics helps us illuminate and utilize the “thick” or “higher” ethical assumptions (which are often religious in nature) that undergird international relations in order to develop and advance perspectives from which a more just world can be built.