Hudson River Valley
Ethics Forum

Ethical Issues
Both Regional and Global in Scope

1. Cleaning up the Hudson River and its watersheds.

2. The ethics of community policing.

See "Training highlights police ethics," by Nik Bonopartis, (Front Page) Poughkeepsie Journal, July 21, 2003.

3. Do Neutral Principles, such as "fairness," or "mutual respect" exist?

See Stanley Fish's essay, "One Man's Opinion," concerning the recent Supreme Court decision upholding the affirmative action policy at the University of Michigan's law school.("New York Times" OP-ED, June 30, 2003 ) See also "The Trouble With Principle" by Stanley Fish, 1999 ISBN:0-674-00534-1

4. Why do people willingly obey authorities everyone knows to be evil? (Known in political philosophy as the "Problem of the Loyal Henchmen.")

See page 83, July 28, 2003 "New Yorker" article titled: "Books, The Devil's Disciples; Can you force people to love freedom?" by Louis Menand, (author of "The Metaphysical Club")

5. "By the law of nature these things are common to all mankind, the air, running water, the sea, and consequently the shores of the sea." from "Institutes of Justinian" year 529.
Can environmental legislation protect the commons now?

See the article "In Law We Trust," by Mark Dowie (author of "Losing Ground") on page 19 of the July/August 2003 issue of "Orion" magazine.