Mission Statement

The Center for Global Ethics furthers GMU's focus on global education and research. It brings needed attention to the values and norms that inevitably play a role in the search for knowledge and the devising of public policy. It helps students and faculty to become aware of the social and personal benefits and costs of information and other technologies and the ethical issues that sometimes attend the practical applications of human knowledge. The Center's emphasis on global human rights brings attention to human needs and to the way our knowledge and research can serve them or fail to do so. Finally, the emphasis on cross-cultural dialogue contributes to GMU's leadership in the area of diversity and the appreciation of the contributions of different cultural traditions.

In addition to pursuing research and curricular innovation along these lines, the Center also 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 applied ethics in the greater DC region, in the U.S., and internationally. It also supports The Journal of Social Philosophy, edited by Professor Gould and published by Blackwells, and this journal will attempt to publish new theoretical research concerning global ethics.