Table Of ContentPhilosophy, Ethics, and
Public Policy
What makes a policy work? What should policies attempt to do, and what ought
they not do? These questions are at the heart of both policymaking and ethics.
Philosophy,EthicsandPublicPolicy:AnIntroductionexaminesthesequestionsandmore.
Andrew I. Cohen uses contemporary examples and controversies, mainly drawn from
policy in a North American context, to illustrate important flashpoints in ethics and
public policy, such as:
(cid:2) public policy and globalization: sweatshops; medicine and the developing world;
immigration
(cid:2) marriage, family, and education: same-sex marriage; women and the family;
education and intelligent design
(cid:2) justifying and responding to state coercion: torture; reparations and restorative
justice
(cid:2) the ethics of the body and commodification: the human organ trade; factory
farming of animals.
Eachchapterillustrateshowethicsofferswaysofprioritizingsomepolicyalternatives
and imagining new ones. Reflecting on various themes in globalization, markets,
and privacy, the chapters are windows to enduring significant debates about what
states may do to shape our behavior. Overall, the book will help readers understand
how ethics can frame policymaking, while also suggesting that sometimes the best
policy is no policy. Including annotated further reading, this is an excellent intro-
duction to a fast-growing subject for students in philosophy, public policy, and
related disciplines.
Andrew I. Cohen is Director of the Jean Beer Blumenfeld Center for Ethics and
Associate Professor of Philosophy at Georgia State University, USA. He is co-editor
(with Christopher Heath Wellman) of Contemporary Debates in Applied Ethics (second
edition, 2014).
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Philosophy, Ethics, and
Public Policy
An Introduction
Andrew I. Cohen
Firstpublished 2015
byRoutledge
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Cohen,AndrewI.
Philosophy,ethics,andpublicpolicy :anintroduction /AndrewI.Cohen.
pagescm
Includesbibliographical referencesandindex.
1.Policysciences--Moraland ethicalaspects.2.Socialpolicy--Moral
andethical aspects.3.Economicpolicy--Moralandethical aspects.
4.Publicwelfare--Moral andethicalaspects. I.Title.
H97.C6242015
172’.2--dc23
2014015473
ISBN:978-0-415-81416-4 (hbk)
ISBN:978-0-415-81417-1 (pbk)
ISBN:978-1-315-77201-1 (ebk)
Typeset inGaramond
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Contents
Acknowledgements vi
Introduction 1
1 Sweatshops 15
2 Pharmaceuticals and the developing world 37
3 Immigration 59
4 Same-sex marriage 81
5 Women and the family 104
6 Education and “intelligent design” 127
7 Torture 144
8 Reparations and restorative justice 161
9 Markets in human body parts and tissues 181
10 Factory farming of animals 202
11 Conclusion 224
Index 227
Acknowledgements
For comments, conversation, or suggestions about various chapters,
I thank Nigel Ashford, Jessica Berry, Bob Brecher, Andrew Jason Cohen,
Maxine Eichner, Christie Hartley, Tim O’Keefe, Peter Lindsay, George
Rainbolt, James Stacey Taylor, Peter Vallentyne, Kit Wellman, Larry
Wilkerson, and Matt Zwolinski. I am grateful for the guidance and
encouragement of my editors at Routledge, Tony Bruce and Adam
Johnson. Several anonymous reviewers for Routledge were generous to
offer extensive and constructive feedback. Many students were kind to
comment on various chapters. Among them were Mason Arline, Cameron
Boone, Maria Caruso, Chelsea Coleman, Harold Crowe, Alexander Davis,
Darla Greaser, Matthew Hiltman, Callie Hollander, Jess Hullinger, Taylor
Jones, Judith Kim, Ayesha Kirk, Alexis Koutrelakos, Ryan Le, Joshua
McCormack, Caitlin McCoyd, Jamie Moon, Taylor Mumford, BaoChau
Nguyen, Maryum Rabia, Evelyn Richardson, Joseph Shively, Leman
Tatari, Kevin Thurston, Sarah Vogt, Andrew Weyant, and Anastasiya
Yashchuk. My thanks to Carson Young for research assistance, and to
Megan Hiatt for careful and patient copyediting. I am especially grateful
to Elizabeth Dwyer for immensely helpful research assistance and copy-
editing. In many ways, I can trace this book to Anthony Pennino, who
inspired many people with his contagious passion for ideas. A special
thanks for the love and support of J, S, & M: almost done!
Introduction
Discussions of public policy often consider how policies are made, how
well they connect to intended goals, and how to evaluate their effects. A
proper understanding of public policy would then require close attention
to how the world works and to how things became the way they are.
Who are the relevant actors? What institutions are in place to achieve
various goals, and how well do they function? Why are institutions
designed the way they are, and why do they work as well—or as poorly—
as they do? Policy theorists and other social scientists devote their careers
to investigating these and related issues. They sometimes propose various
models for understanding the motives of policymakers, the content of the
policies, and how to assess the consequences. Their work is complex and
often controversial. Even the most highly regarded experts disagree about
the causes of events and policies, what is currently happening, what
might happen, and how best to proceed.
Asifsuchcomplexityanduncertaintywerenotenough,policydiscussions
sometimes fail to make clear what it should mean for a policy to “work”
and how to understand which consequences count when considering what
a policy does. Sometimes we lose sight of what policies may attempt to do
or what they ought to do. Approaching policy disputes without a sense of
the legitimate scope of political action may then miss a vital part of the
discussion. This is not a question of effectiveness, though that is crucial to
policy discussions. It is a particular type of normative issue: It is a matter
of understanding the moral possibilities available to anyone considering
competing policy proposals.
A central function of ethical principles is to indicate what we may do
alone or together through institutions. These principles can also tell us
what we ought or ought not to do. Ethical principles guide our behavior,
constraining or marshaling our conduct by offering special reasons that
encourage or discourage (or, more forcefully, compel or forbid) our
actions.
Ethics is then that part of philosophy that considers, among other
things, what makes for a good human life, what people owe to one
2 Philosophy, Ethics, and Public Policy
another, and how human beings ought to behave. The institutions we
create and inhabit crucially shape what sorts of lives we lead. Since ethics
guides our actions, it offers a framework for evaluating the merits of rules,
norms, or institutions. Ethics can indicate how to construct, change, or
assesskeysocialandpoliticalinstitutions.Asapartofphilosophy,ethicsalso
helps us to explore deeply held commitments and traditions. It urges us
to expand our imaginations to consider morally enriching possibilities. It
can then be a crucial part of the policy theorist’s toolkit for at least two
reasons. First, people care about doing the right thing. Second, despite
disagreements, ethics can be a way of framing policy disputes and possible
institutional responses in a way that might achieve greater consensus.
Policy theorists care about what ethics has to say. People who act
withinandforpublicinstitutionscare.Ofcourse,ordinarycitizenscare,too.
We all care because we want to be sure to support and do the right
things. Often it is not entirely clear just what that right thing is. Some-
times there are many possible right things to do. Even though there is
sometimes uncertainty and disagreement about many fundamental ethical
questions, ethics can still help us in part by making a bit clearer what is
at stake in policy disputes. It can deepen our appreciation of what matters
and why. This book uses philosophical ethics to lend clarity to policy
disputes and to help us determine what constitutes good reasons in
policymaking.
Bringing ethics to policy might seem an uneasy marriage. After all,
policy is concerned with getting things done. Ethics may just threaten to
get in the way. That might be why some people would be suspicious of
ethics. It seems to stand for the parent wagging a finger at us, admon-
ishing us to stop doing something we like doing or to make us do
something we really do not want to do. Perhaps this worry has something
to it. Perhaps ethics sometimes is a chore. However, it might also help us
to understand what our values are, what they could be and should be, and
how to go about realizing them. It can even help us to understand
together what our shared values are or should be. Ethics might then be an
important part of understanding and shaping policy.
What is public policy?
Let us back up a second. Think for a moment about public policy. What
is it? It is tempting to think that a public policy is anything a state does.
But that definition is too broad. Think about why. States, through their
governments, do many things that are either not public or not a policy.
When a county government decides to lower the speed limit on a local
road, it sends out a county employee in a county vehicle to install a new
sign. When Chris, the county employee, removes the old sign and installs
Introduction 3
the new one, Chris acts on behalf of the county government. Acting
through Chris, the county does many things, including some that seem
inconsequential. When Chris tightens the bolt on the new speed limit
sign, that action is not a public policy. But tightening the bolt is some-
thing the county does (through Chris). So, “public policy” cannot be
anything a state does.
When Chris the county employee installs the new road sign, plenty of
public policies are still afoot. The lowering of the speed limit is a
(new) policy. It was enacted through procedures that are set out in various
public policies,such asthosegoverning openmeetings,public hearings, the
election and appointment of officials, and rules defining what makes
something a traffic regulation. Chris also drove a county vehicle as part of
official county business to the place where the sign is posted. Chris had
tools that belong to the county and used them to install the new sign.
The existence of county vehicles and tools, and the existence of funds to
purchase a new sign, are all licensed by various public policies. There are
rules that describe how to raise the revenue to do such things. There are
rules, norms, and institutions for holding, allocating, and dispersing such
funds. There are also rules regarding the maintenance of county property.
There are many other rules regarding how someone such as Chris can
have a job working for the county and who can tell Chris what to do.
Therefore, public policy can be defined as any institution, norm, or
rule that the government of a state upholds to guide people’s behavior. States,
through their governments, have many tools for guiding behavior, such as
laws, regulations, various norms and procedures, budgets, regulatory
directives, executive orders, and so forth. These are all ways of making
people do things, or not do things, by providing or signaling reasons to
act or not to act in certain ways.
What makes a public policy public?
What makes policies public and what makes them policies? Consider first
the public part. Public policies are not private preferences or choices, even
if they reflect, encourage, or celebrate private choices. Suppose Pat is a
vegetarian. Even if Pat is very public about this dietary choice, it is not a
public policy. Pat is not the government. Even if Pat were the president
or prime minister, Pat’s vegetarianism would not be a public policy.
Being a vegetarian is something Pat does as a private citizen. If, however,
Pat were the head of state and somehow issued and enforced an order that
everyone must become a vegetarian, then vegetarianism would be a
public policy.
The choices and policies of privately held companies are not public
policies. Coca Cola’s policy to keep Coke’s formula a trade secret is not a
