An innovative introduction to ethics through philosophy and fiction

Ethics: An Introduction with Primary Texts and Short Fictive Narratives offers a distinctive and pedagogically effective approach to ethical inquiry. Fostering a deep understanding of theory and its practical implications, the book begins with an accessible introduction to metaethics, addressing the foundational concepts that ground moral reasoning. It then moves through carefully abridged and newly translated selections from three pillars of Western ethical theory-Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Kant's Groundwork, and Mill's Utilitarianism. These translations have been curated to highlight the central arguments and transitions within each thinker's system, allowing readers to engage directly and critically with major ethical frameworks.

What sets this volume apart is its innovative integration of the short fictional narratives and poetry of Michael Boylan, richly illustrating the dimensions of moral philosophy. These narratives serve as applied ethics case studies, encouraging readers to bridge theoretical knowledge with real-life decision-making. Structured exercises, study questions, and feedback sections support active learning, while the philosophical treatment of fictive narrative invites reflection on the nature and power of storytelling in ethical discourse.

Authored by a leading scholar with expertise in both ethical theory and creative writing. Ethics: An Introduction with Primary Texts and Short Narratives:

• Enables direct engagement with core arguments of Virtue Ethics, Deontology, and Utilitarianism
• Applies the concept of "fictive narrative philosophy" to stimulate reflective and critical ethical reasoning
• Provides a unified conceptual approach through the Personal and Shared Community Worldview Imperatives
• Employs a structured, progressive framework that integrates metaethics, normative theory, and applied ethics
• Supports interdisciplinary learning with content relevant to philosophy, literature, political science, and law

Ethics: An Introduction with Primary Texts and Short Narratives is ideal for introductory and intermediate undergraduate courses such as Introduction to Ethics, Ethical Theory, and Applied Ethics in degree programs across the humanities, social sciences, business, pre-professional studies, and other fields where ethical literacy is an essential skill.

A cutting-edge selection of current issues and explorations of the ethics of artificial intelligence

As artificial intelligence continues to influence virtually every facet of modern life, Contemporary Debates in the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence offers a timely and rigorous examination of the field's most pressing questions. Equally useful in the classroom or as a reference for interdisciplinary research, this volume fosters informed and critical engagement with the ethical dimensions of artificial intelligence in today's world.

Curated by renowned scholars Sven Nyholm, Atoosa Kasirzadeh, and John Zerilli, Contemporary Debates in the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence brings together a dynamic mix of established leaders and emerging voices from both philosophy and computer science. The result is a uniquely structured collection of debates that not only introduces key concepts-such as agency, moral status, and value alignment-but also challenges readers to engage deeply with controversies around bias, transparency, and the societal risks posed by AI technologies.

Providing frameworks for engaging responsibly with current and future AI technologies, Contemporary Debates in the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence:

• Presents a dual-perspective debate format that fosters critical thinking and comparative analysis
• Includes both foundational conceptual discussions and cutting-edge applied ethical issues
• Features original contributions from interdisciplinary experts in philosophy, law, cognitive science, and computer science
• Addresses timely topics such as algorithmic bias, opacity, value alignment, and the moral status of AI
• Explores forward-looking concerns, including the future of AI governance and long-term existential risks

Contemporary Debates in the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence is ideal for undergraduate, advanced undergraduate, and graduate-level courses in philosophy, computer science, public policy, and related disciplines. It is well-suited for courses such as Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, Technology and Society, and Digital Ethics in philosophy, computer science, political science, international relations, and data science programs.

Explores how American Literature has represented the sound and spirit of popular music

From the birth of rhythm and blues to the rise of hip-hop, American writers have long grappled with how to capture in words the energy, rebellion, and cultural power of popular music. Popular Music and American Literary Culture traces this complex relationship, offering the most comprehensive exploration yet of how novelists, poets, and playwrights have responded to the sounds that have defined the last eight decades of American life.

Kirk Curnutt examines how writers have celebrated, critiqued, and been inspired by the sonic revolutions of their time-from Elvis and Motown to punk and rap-while questioning literature's ability to match music's visceral immediacy. Moving from 1950s pulp paperbacks to twenty-first-century drama, Curnutt uncovers how depictions of performers, fans, and media reflect broader debates about art, authenticity, and cultural authority. His wide-ranging readings recover overlooked works and authors who confronted rock and soul with as much seriousness as the revered voices of American fiction, poetry, and theater.

Illuminating how writers have tried, and often struggled, to translate rhythm, emotion, and the pulse of a generation into prose and verse, Popular Music and American Literary Culture:

• Addresses scholarship on rock, soul, funk, and hip-hop within a single, cohesive framework
• Reveals how literary portrayals of music reflect shifting cultural attitudes toward race, class, gender, and generational identity
• Examines canonical authors including Thomas Pynchon and James Baldwin, as well as overlooked writers such as Kristin Hunter and Greg Randolph
• Reclaims forgotten or neglected texts that expand the boundaries of American musical and literary study
• Integrates historical, cultural, and formal perspectives to show the evolution of music in American artistic consciousness

Popular Music and American Literary Culture: Reading the Beat is ideal for undergraduate and graduate courses in American literature, popular culture, and music history. It is especially relevant for English, American Studies, and Cultural Studies programs seeking to blend literary analysis with media and performance studies. Written in an engaging and accessible style, it is also well-suited for general readers interested in the interplay between sound and story in American artistic life.

At a time when concerns about sexual violence, online harms and the efficacy of Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) frameworks are at the forefront of public discourse, this book offers a timely and necessary intervention. Presenting the concept of 'safe uncertainty' as a transformative framework for understanding adolescent intimacies and relationships, authors Setty and Hunt critique current deficit models in relationships and sex education in place of a more nuanced engagement with digital intimacies, online sexual learning and sex media, healthy relationships, gender and consent.

Traditional approaches to RSE, while well-intentioned, can reduce complex social and emotional dynamics to simplistic binaries, leaving young people ill-equipped to navigate the inherent ambivalences and ambiguities of intimacy and relationality. Drawing on original research and case studies from the authors' practice, this text demonstrates how safe uncertainty acknowledges ambiguity and ambivalence as integral parts of relationships and intimacy and involves creating environments where young people can explore their perspectives and experiences without fear of judgment or rigid moral or legal solutions. Aligned with a broader need for relational, developmental and contextual approaches to understanding adolescent intimacies, Setty and Hunt explore how this framework encourages educators, policymakers and researchers to move beyond knowledge-transfer models and instead focus on equipping young people with the skills to navigate uncertainty in ways that promote emotional resilience and ethical decision-making as sexual citizens.

Connecting the concept of safe uncertainty with critical debates on consent, gender and digital culture, this timely contribution bridges gaps between research, practice and policy on both a national and an international scale.

For three decades the philanthropist and billionaire investor George Soros has played a prominent role in promoting a vision of 'Open Society' in Central Eastern Europe (CEE), promoting the transition from communist statism to liberal democracy through his philanthropic measures, most notably his support for the Open Society Foundations. Within this body of work an important aspect has been Soros support and commitment to the development of Roma civil society. Support from Soros endeavours has enabled the development and progression of Roma civil society, especially at the transnational level, preparing and training Roma community leaders in the skills of community development and project management. Thousands of Roma individuals have also benefited from generous scholarship programmes funded by Open Society and Soros, completing school and university studies and other forms of training, thereby engendering role models. Soros-supported initiatives have also been highly influential in transnational diplomacy within for example the Council of Europe and the European Union, playing an important role in policy frameworks like the Decade for Roma Inclusion and the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies.

Empire and race have become the most discussed - and most problematic - subjects in political and historical discourse. It is now an unquestionable orthodoxy both in academia and in progressive political discourse that European colonial empires - particularly the British - were uniquely evil, the West's 'original sin', and that their legacy continues to underpin systemic racism, injustice, and oppression.

Marie Kawthar Daouda, a Moroccan and French academic who now lives in Britain, argues that this narrative is dangerously wrong. Weaving her personal experience with erudite reflection on history, literature, and politics, she argues that we are all heirs of complex waves of immigration, conquest, and colonization. A closer look at French and British history belies a simplistic worldview wherein all the evil in the world is the result of the peculiarly vicious nature of white, Western colonizers. Indeed, she argues, such a perspective nurtures the very prejudices it claims to fight by valorizing victimhood above individual or collective agency and by denying ethnic minorities any sense of responsibility.

A coruscating attack on the perverse solipsism, moral blindness, and historical illiteracy of 'decolonizing' progressive elites, this book upends our tired debates over colonialism, empire, and immigration. It offers a more nuanced, hopeful vision of our historical self-understanding.

This book explores how Internet use empowers users and the range of economic and social implications of these impacts. This is the first systematic study of how the Internet and online social networks reconfigure the life choices and opportunity sets Chinese people of different age groups face, and ways in which internet users' life online and offline are intertwined with each other. The new ways of obtaining and making use of information and of interacting with others made possible by new forms of technology and their applications have profound and lasting effects on not only individuals but also social groups, and the entire population. The book also discusses the complex and dynamic relationship between tools and the people who use them.

This book is a timely and urgent study on how the financialization of rental housing by investment firms is reshaping urban climate adaptation with a particular focus on the coastal city of Norfolk, Virginia. This region presents a key example where rising seas and rising rents- two of today's major socio-economic and environmental challenges- are colliding. Attuning to a social geography of adaptation and finance, its chapters, dispatches from the frontlines of these twinned crises, are developed through the distinct views of individuals who navigate and contest the liquidation of their city by finance and by flood.

From boardrooms to the rubble of public housing, the book details how adaptation plans turn climate risk into bankable assets, how a mobility trap forces renters into flood-prone neighborhoods, and how flood resilience was weaponized to displace Black public housing residents. Liquid Cities charts an ascendant financial sovereignty over urban adapted futures, ultimately offering concrete policy ideas for ensuring that renters are not left behind in this compelling account of capital, water, and one region's fight for its future.

This groundbreaking open access collection of over twenty-five keyword entries from leading scholars in the emerging field of critical outer space studies offers stimulating interdisciplinary conversations about humanity's relationship with the cosmos.

National and commercial space activity has reached a level of political, economic, and cultural relevance unknown since the height of the Cold War. From the launching of satellite mega-constellations and efforts to deflect Earth-threatening asteroids, to projects to settle Mars and return to the moon, the hype, imaginaries, and investments now clustering around space activity raise urgent questions about how outer space relates to larger systems of power. Who has the right to explore and settle space? What histories of colonialism and capitalism shape current space ambitions? In what ways do space exploration projects reflect and reproduce Earth-bound inequalities? How might alternative, more just and environmentally sustainable futures in space be imagined?

Outer space has long generated radical reimaginings and reconceptualisations of humanity and its futures. Taking inspiration from the weird and generative possibilities of outer space, this collection offers new forms of theory and analysis for examining the varied ways we relate to space. A key resource in this exciting and vibrant new area of critical enquiry, this collection is an essential read for those seeking to better understand the social, cultural, and political impacts of the accelerating transformation of outer space into a site of economic ambition, geopolitical contestation, and environmental concern.

This book is a practical and deeply personal guide for educators seeking to understand and respond to student trauma. Blending scholarly research, classroom strategy, and lived experience, it explores how trauma affects learning, behavior, relationships, and teacher well-being, as well as how schools can become places of safety and healing. Written by an educator, trauma scholar, and Gold Star widow, the book weaves compelling narrative with evidence-based practices, offering both insight and hope. The text is organized into three sections that move the reader from foundational understanding to practical application. Part I, Foundations of Trauma-Informed Understanding, examines what trauma is and how it impacts students' brains, bodies, and behaviors. Part II, Shifting the Lens-From Behavior to Belonging, reframes misbehavior as a signal of underlying need, encouraging educators to seek root causes rather than punitive responses. Part III, Practices That Restore, presents strategies for creating trauma-informed classrooms that prioritize safety, connection, and empowerment.

Seeding Urban Transformation explores opportunities to produce urban life afresh in the fraught presents of ecological fragility, social strain and financial inequity. A collection of case studies across disciplines and geographies; critical and creative provocations between the tactical and the systemic, for positive change and urban liveability.

Are we really living in a post-truth age? Have ideas like information, knowledge and truth passed their sell-by date? Is 'information disorder' leading to the terminal decline of democracy? Or will fact-checkers, media regulators and educators come to the rescue?

The End of Information cuts through the exaggerated claims that have been made about these issues. Interrogating the key terms in the debate, including trust, democracy, news, and information itself, the book offers a clear-eyed evaluation of potential solutions to the problems involved. It also considers the implications for education in relation to key issues such as literacy and knowledge. It argues that we need to look not just at the symptoms of information disorder but also at their wider political and economic causes; and it suggests that these will not be amenable to a simple 'information fix'.

Accessibly written by a leading scholar in the field, this book provides a clear introduction to the information disorders of our times and some fresh thinking about how they can be addressed. Concise, engaging and incisive, it is essential reading for students, scholars and teachers alike.

Drawing on historical and contemporary ethnographic research, this edited collection addresses tangible and intangible forms of urban heritage, their impact on urban policies, and their consequences for urban life, both at individual and social levels. The chapters look at culturally diverse concepts of heritage in their social and historical context, bringing out the potential conflict that cultural memories and ideological approaches may generate and the related processes of social and political legitimation. The book offers different perspectives on how culturally driven urban policies interlink with power dynamics. It will contribute to understanding how memory practices may reflect changing historical narratives, political and ideological projects, and the (re)definition of social identities. This book is of special interest to scholars and students of anthropology, sociology, urban history, ethnographic research, material culture, social and political sciences, and archaeology.

This open access book addresses sustainability education in garden-based learning settings with biological and cultural diversity as its central themes. It provides scientific background knowledge to understand biological diversity and its functional roles in ecosystems as well as didactic approaches to sensitize students for challenges related to biodiversity loss or preservation, respectively, and to further their environmental consciousness. It also addresses biodiversity education in a broader sense by discussing issues that include economic, political, cultural and ethical aspects.

This book supports teachers of all educational levels as well as pedagogues involved in non-formal training in developing concepts and learning environments for biodiversity education in garden-based learning settings and, therefore, it is of great benefit for school teachers and university lecturers working with their students in a school garden or close-to nature designed school areas. Likewise, teacher mentors and trainers at universities, school leaders and policymakers responsible for the laying-out of school grounds can benefit from the information compiled in this volume.

This book explores the changing relations between Chinese secret societies in British Malaya and the British colonial government, examining how and why British attitudes towards Chinese migrants changed over the nineteenth century, from welcoming them at the century's start, to suppressing them by the end of the century. These changes later marked a crucial turning point in which Chinese migrants were no longer seen as foreign settlers without legal status, but as part of the colonial population of British Malaya. Suggesting that Chinese secret societies in colonial Asia were far more important than they have traditionally been perceived and moving away from the view that they were simply violent criminal organisations, the book analyses the much broader socioeconomic purposes that the societies served and examines how British colonial perceptions and attitudes played a role in their functioning. The author incorporates this story into the wider process of colonial knowledge production across the global British Empire, illustrating how this became an important factor in helping the British integrate the Chinese into their systems. A welcome contribution to studies on colonial Asia, this book presents a wide-ranging overview of the changing role of Chinese secret societies in British Malaya, and will provide new insights for those researching the history of southeast Asia, colonialism and migration.

Australia's cities are undergoing a profound transformation. The way people live, work, and interact is changing as urban environments change due to the interaction of public spaces, architecture, and economic expansion. Through an extensive collection of case studies that showcase the country's most ambitious urban undertakings, Australia's Urbanity: Architecture, Place, and the Pulse of Urban Life explores this progression.

The book depicts the dynamic changes that characterize contemporary Australian urbanity, from the reimagining of public areas and waterfronts to the growth of major business districts and the emergence of high-density dwelling. It looks at urban infill projects that strike a balance between progressive redevelopment and heritage preservation, master-planned communities created for long-term sustainability, and economic innovation precincts that propel technological growth. The book presents a convincing picture of how cities are adjusting to changing societal demands, environmental issues, and population increase through these five topics.

At the heart of this exploration is the question of resilience and sustainable development-how can Australian cities evolve without losing their identity? The case studies show that combining sustainable infrastructure, smart design, and public involvement is essential for a successful urban change. While many key initiatives demonstrate the need of sustainability and innovation in forming future communities, some development-oriented projects demonstrate how urban renovation can improve both economic vitality and social inclusion. The book ends with a discussion of Australia's urban future, highlighting the necessity of planning frameworks and policies that strike a balance between ecological responsibility and expansion. Australia's Urbanity is a guide to comprehending the forces that will define the cities of the future, not merely a mirror of the present.

• Showcases iconic urban projects shaping Australia's evolving cityscapes and public spaces.
• Explores sustainability and innovation in master-planned communities and economic precincts.
• Blends architecture, history, and policy to reveal the pulse of Australian urban life.
• Features 25 compelling case studies from waterfront redevelopments to high-density CBD expansions.
• Offers a forward-looking perspective on resilience, growth, and the future of Australian cities.

With Latin America experiencing one-third of global homicides and frequent coups and revolutions, activism in the region is shaped by violence and repression. Activists frequently face severe persecution, including tactics such as the curtailment of the right to protest, escalated militarization and enhanced surveillance.

This book explores the unique forms of activism in Latin America and the violence activists face, including extortion, kidnapping and physical attacks. It examines how both state and non-state actors target dissent and the connection between riots, looting and violent acts as part of collective actions.

Providing novel insights for scholars in activist organising, politics and social movements, the book analyses the relationship between routine violence and activism in a region characterised by systemic inequalities.

A wide-ranging look at football's powerful but controversial governing body.

Football is the world's most popular sport and truly a global phenomenon. As a result, it attracts huge sums of money from its advertisers, sponsors and broadcasters, much of which flows to FIFA, the sport's international governing body. So, given its decidedly chequered history, the question of what FIFA is for is crucial to the game's future.

Examining the organisation's successes such as the explosion of interest in the women's game, alongside its failures and continuing crises over corruption and ethics, Alan Tomlinson asks: what will it take for FIFA to genuinely live up to its own mission of integrity, fair play and accessibility?

This open access volume is the first of three volumes highlighting the critical intersection of Ocean Literacy and global initiatives driving positive change during the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (the Ocean Decade). It explores connections between Ocean Literacy and the Ocean Decade's Outcomes and Challenges, with a focus on Challenge 10: Restore society's relationship with the Ocean through the active involvement of all civil society actors. Featuring 21 chapters authored by over 90 contributors from 19 countries/regions, the volume presents global case studies and research-based strategies that promote educational innovation, interdisciplinary learning, and equity. Emphasizing experiential learning, Indigenous knowledge, and inclusive approaches, it builds capacity for informed action and lays a foundation to transform education, research, and engagement through Ocean Literacy. This volume serves as a valuable resource for researchers, educators, policymakers, and community leaders committed to strengthening Ocean engagement and advancing sustainable development.

This conference proceedings, Opportunities for Heritage: Fostering Innovation, Conservation and Sustainability, is the outcome of the first international conference with the same title. The challenges in the pursuit of heritage protection and sustainable development are closely intertwined with the intricate relationship between social and economic environments, often clashing with the need to preserve heritage. It became apparent that further discussions are needed to address the pressing issues facing World Heritage around the world. This book documents the discourse on the interlinkages of heritage and sustainable development by bringing together researchers, practitioners and stakeholders from the fields of heritage at multiple levels to explore the opportunities heritage offers in implementing the UN agenda 2030, and the innovative solutions created to efficiently manage it. It highlights experiences in management including tourism management, the interlinkage between tangible and intangible heritage, living heritage, heritage digitalization and the economic opportunities provided by heritage.

The work also addresses the questions of how to meet the needs and aspirations of the communities central to the sustainable management of heritage and their development aspirations. Overall, it emphasizes the importance of heritage for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and for building peace and creating resilient communities, aiming to be a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners in the field of heritage.

Thinking Through Memes is an introductory, interdisciplinary project that brings together authors from a wide variety of disciplines to discuss and explore issues surrounding the popular culture phenomenon known as memes. This anthology looks at the cultural, ethical, philosophical, and societal influence that memes have. Questions as to the nature of memes as art, the rhetorical influence of memes, how memes operate at a psychological and cultural level, and why memes are important across a variety of areas in our lives are discussed in various ways throughout the chapters. Attention has been paid by the authors to avoid jargon and make their text as accessible as possible, encouraging readers to explore and think further on the issues. The text includes vocabulary terms and learning objectives for easy navigation.

This book analyses human hair as a commodity as it traverses different social, cultural and economic contexts. It explores the meanings attributed to hair by the women donating it at Indian temples, and by those wearing it in Finland and South Africa. As an investigation into hair, it continues the long tradition in sociology that turns to small, everyday phenomena to interrogate more abstract, large-scale systems. The circulation and various uses of hair are explored through underlying inequalities connected to neoliberal capitalist processes and colonial continuities. The author unravels the effects of such macrostructures on women's economic position and social worth, which shape and are shaped by hair.

This volume will be of interest to students and scholars across the social sciences researching transnationality and consumption, global inequality, beauty and hierarchies of human value. It will also interest anyone wishing to learn about the intricacies of hair and women's everyday life in the Global North and South.

This book examines how translation and other forms of intertextual exchange have contributed to the telling of British and international print and manuscript news. In its focus on the press from the seventeenth century until the 1960s, this contributed volume enhances our understanding of both the historical role and use of translation, as well as the interplay of reporting strategies of the same news topic in different domains, languages and geographical settings. The focus on translation and intertextuality reflects the need to understand historical news as a transnational, translingual, inter-genre phenomenon in which news writers and editors were constantly seeking out and adapting both the contents and language of other texts and publications for their own journalistic purposes. Its contributors cover manuscript news and Italian avvisi, print newssheets, propaganda pamphlets and state-run newspapers, dailies, weeklies, magazines, and the specialised press, in settings that bring new insights to the transnational and comparative histories of both British and international news domains.

Chapter 5 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

What happens when death becomes part of the journey of international migrants?

This book examines how mortality is woven into the experience of displacement and migration. From perilous border crossings to the business of repatriation and contested burial grounds, it reveals the hidden geographies and politics that underpin the death of migrants in transit or abroad. Drawing together diverse research across disciplines, it offers a cohesive framework for understanding the industries, rituals and emotional labour surrounding migrant death.

Whether through bureaucratic processes, artistic productions, activist mobilizations or collective mourning, death becomes not an endpoint, but a powerful force shaping how migration is lived, governed and remembered.

A deeply researched look at the debate around immigration policy, and possible paths forward.

Does political rhetoric on immigration policy match what is actually happening on the ground? Why do well-intentioned plans fail? Could immigration policy be done better?

This book explores what immigration policy seeks to achieve and why so many people end up unhappy with the outcome. Drawing on decades of research and examples from high-income countries around the world, it exposes the unavoidable trade-offs governments face, and the impacts of their choices on people and communities.

It reveals how we got here, why the policy challenge is so difficult, and how we get to a better place.

This work fleshes out the assertion about the need for a revisioning of education to address the circumstances in which we now find ourselves. It draws attention to the ways education systems typically take a short-sighted view of the purposes of education by focussing on their parochial interests and having the education system strongly linked to national identity and the national economy. It argues that we now require a more long-term view of the purposes of education: one that better fits students for an uncertain future and for dealing with the unprecedented challenges that confront humankind. These include, amongst many others, that much more emphasis needs to be given to nurturing appropriate skills, within a framework of lifelong learning, as people's jobs are reimagined, enriched or facilitated by the technology they work alongside; the unprecedented environmental destruction through global warming and natural resource depletion; population and consumption trends predicting that we shall overshoot the earth's carrying capacity within the century; humanity being at war with itself in escalating numbers of regional, ethnic, and religious conflicts; and domestic violence, youth suicide as well as child abuse and neglect being of epidemic proportions.

The work identifies a conception of curriculum and an approach to teaching and learning that have been shown to have the effects that successfully address such challenges. The authors label them as values based instructional scaffolds. The volume provides a total of eight case studies of best practice values based instructional scaffolding drawn from the UK, USA, Africa and Australia.