Numéro 7 (1): 2010
Articles
Marie-France VERNIER
SUMMARY
The aim of this paper is to define vehicles of marketing development for a firm offering eco-designed products. The first section defines the concept of eco-design and shows that it is both a technical and a managerial innovation. The second section presents the analytical framework: CSR (Corporate social responsibility) according to the firm and the perception of environmental value by consumers. In the third section, we will examine how to market eco-designed products.
KEYWORDS
marketing, eco-design, innovation, ethic, strategic management, environmental management
Jean-Luc DUBOIS
Patricia HUYGHEBAERT
Anne-Sophie BROUILLET
Relating Fragile States to Social and Human Fragilities
ABSTRACT
Fragile States is a way of naming this particular category of states that have weak performance, insufficient service delivery, weak administrative and government power, and lack of legal rules. Little consideration is usually made to the fact that their own societies may also be fragile and easily jeopardised by inappropriate economic measures or external events. Poverty traps and social exclusion, unjust inequalities with lack of equity, feelings of insecurity and vulnerability, usually undermine the social fabric. Moreover, the people bear their own internal fragilities, which are based on the lack of capabilities and recognition, and interfere in the relationships between the groups that constitute the society. Therefore, dealing with the issue of fragility requires to consider various decision levels, from the personal one to the State level. Such an approach could allow fragile states to conceive preventive policies that would avoid the surge of a political crisis resulting from the combination of social conflict and individual failure.
KEYWORDS
Capability Approach, Fragile States, Poverty, Public Policy, Vulnerability
Vincent CALVEZ
Kate KEARING
Jenkins RANDALL
ABSTRACT
Ordered conflict resolution: understanding her tenets cost Keynes his life and Arrow to live under extortionate threat. Now that the Supreme Court of the United States has conquered the Informal Capital Market Cartel’s stranglehold on academic freedom, the literature can now vindicate impossibilityresolved social choice theory in the venue of a marriage between ethics and economics; as Sen has pled need be the case. This paper introduces ordered conflict resolution and her two impossibility-resolving axioms in effecting (individual: societal) well-being transitivity.
KEYWORDS
Social choice, Impossibility theorem
J. Peter BURGUESS
L’éthique politique de la sécurité
ABSTRACT
The paper examines the political significance and interest of resorts to the precautionary principle. The precautionary principle may in fact be invoked by the decision theory in the realm of security, in particular on an international level. How should we face the increasing risks stemming from modern figures of conflicts? Such an increase in risks encourages a growing technologization and globalization of security devices. The uncertainty that pertains to such an evolution of risks points nevertheless to the responsibility of decisionmakers, whose ethical duty lies in a resort to the precautionary principle as a guide towards the future, not only in the field of environment or health, but also in the realm of public security.
KEYWORDS
precautionary principle, security, risk, conflict, technology, ethics, politics
Jos PHILIPS
NGO Duties in Relation to Human Rights. A Closer Look at One Proposal
ABSTRACT
This paper investigates the moral duties that human rights NGOs, such as Amnesty International, and development NGOs, such as Oxfam, have in relation to human rights – especially in relation to the human right to a decent standard of living. The mentioned NGOs are powerful new agents on the global scene, and according to many they might be duty-bearers in relation to human rights. However, until now their moral duties have hardly been investigated. The present paper investigates NGO duties in relation to human rights by looking in particular to a moral theory recently proposed by Leif Wenar, a theory which has some similarities to utilitarianism. In applying this theory, a case for human-rights duties of NGOs is developed mainly by considering the indispensable role that civil society plays in protecting human rights. The paper concludes that, at least, NGOs bear duties with regard to human rights when, as in certain real-life cases, NGO involvement is the only way to achieve acceptable protection against standard threats to certain goods, such as a decent standard of living.
KEYWORDS
NGOs; human rights, moral duties, human right to a decent standard of living; Leif Wenar, moral theory, utilitarianism; civil society.
Cass R. SUNSTEIN
Au-delà du principe de précaution
ABSTRACT
My central claim here is conceptual. The real problem with the Precautionary Principle, at least in its strongest forms, is that it is incoherent; it purports to give guidance, but it fails to do so, because it condemns the very steps that it requires. The regulation that the principle requires always gives rise to risks of its own – and hence the principle bans what it simultaneously mandates. I therefore aim to challenge the Precautionary Principle not because it leads in bad directions, but because read for all that it is worth, it leads in no direction at all. The principle threatens to be paralyzing, forbidding regulation, inaction, and every step in between. Protection of the environment and nature often makes sense, but the Precautionary Principle is not a helpful way of identifying when, and how much, protection of nature makes sense.
KEYWORDS
precautionary principle, risk management, cognitive biais
Bernard REBER
La dissémination des interprétations du principe de précaution – Le cas des essais OGM au champ
ABSTRACT
The Precautionary Principle (PP) became a genuine meta-norm, supposed to frame the decisions concerning several scientific and technological choices in situation of combined uncertainties and controversies. It links scientific, ethical and political aspects. And since it is frequently associated with the participatory principle, or even the pluralism principle, the main topic of this article is to analyse the different interpretations, often partial, and sometimes contradictory, that have been attributed to it during the national debate organised by the (French) Economic and Social Council: “Debate on the GMO and field trials” (2002). It is true that the precautionary principle should be applied in very specific circumstances, in particular in cases where the limitation of scientific expertise is the cause of uncertainty that could not be used as an excuse not to take the appropriate decisions, confronting risks that might provoke serious or/and irreversible harms. In 2002 it was already formulated in French laws and was assumed as familiar to the main protagonists of the debate. Rather than analysing the precautionary principle in abstracto, we are going to investigate how it is “put to the test” inside this very original institutional framework, gathering experts, students and four “wisemen”.
KEYWORDS
Precautionary principle, participative and deliberative democracy, public ethics and expertise, moral sociology of collective assessment.
Étienne BRUN-REVET
Le principe de précaution entre l’épistémologie et le droit
ABSTRACT
My central claim here is conceptual. The real problem with the Precautionary Principle, at least in its strongest forms, is that it is incoherent; it purports to give guidance, but it fails to do so, because it condemns the very steps that it requires. The regulation that the principle requires always gives rise to risks of its own – and hence the principle bans what it simultaneously mandates. I therefore aim to challenge the Precautionary Principle not because it leads in bad directions, but because read for all that it is worth, it leads in no direction at all. The principle threatens to be paralyzing, forbidding regulation, inaction, and every step in between. Protection of the environment and nature often makes sense, but the Precautionary Principle is not a helpful way of identifying when, and how much, protection of nature makes sense.
KEYWORDS
precautionary principle, risk management, cognitive biais
Afschin GANDJOUR
Interpersonal comparison of welfare in Harsanyí’s veil-of-ignorance model
ABSTRACT
According to John Harsanyi’s veil-of-ignorance model (1953, 1955) rational observers behind a veil of ignorance seek to maximize the sum of individual utilities. However, Harsanyi’s model is based on the erroneous assumption that the observers’ von Neumann-Morgenstern utility function allows comparing welfare interpersonally. This paper suggests a modification of Harsanyi’s model that allows comparing welfare interpersonally, by using life years in perfect utility or happy life years as a measure of welfare.
KEYWORDS
Interpersonal comparison; John Harsanyi; veil of ignorance; welfare
Michel DION
SUMMARY
There are many ways to classify ethical mutual funds. One of them is to focus on the kinds of organizational beliefs we could identify in such funds. There are ethical mutual funds in which we could find out financial-oriented beliefs that try to explain or justify the choices made by the fund managers. Some other ethical mutual funds are rather characterized by their social-oriented beliefs that justily their social criteria. In some cases, ethical mutual funds have both kinds of beliefs. We have analyzed here three ethical mutual funds (Parnassus Equity Income Fund, Calvert Social Investment Fund Equity Portfolio», «Domini Social Equity Fund») in order to see if ethical mutual funds having financial-oriented and/or social-oriented beliefs would have a better financial performance than the S & P 500. We have found that the fund that has the better financial performance in comparison with the S & P 500 was the financial-oriented ethical mutual fund. The two other funds having socialoriented beliefs have a lower financial performance in comparison with the S & P 500.
KEYWORDS
Ethical mutual funds, organizational beliefs, Social and financial performance
Michel DION
SUMMARY
There are many ways to classify ethical mutual funds. One of them is to focus on the kinds of organizational beliefs we could identify in such funds. There are ethical mutual funds in which we could find out financial-oriented beliefs that try to explain or justify the choices made by the fund managers. Some other ethical mutual funds are rather characterized by their social-oriented beliefs that justily their social criteria. In some cases, ethical mutual funds have both kinds of beliefs. We have analyzed here three ethical mutual funds (Parnassus Equity Income Fund, Calvert Social Investment Fund Equity Portfolio», «Domini Social Equity Fund») in order to see if ethical mutual funds having financial-oriented and/or social-oriented beliefs would have a better financial performance than the S & P 500. We have found that the fund that has the better financial performance in comparison with the S & P 500 was the financial-oriented ethical mutual fund. The two other funds having socialoriented beliefs have a lower financial performance in comparison with the S & P 500.
KEYWORDS
Ethical mutual funds, organizational beliefs, Social and financial performance
Vincent CALVEZ
Kate KEARING
Comptes Rendus / Book Reviews
Antoine PECOUD
Paul DE GUCHTENEIRE
Numéro 7 (2): 2010. Les institutions saisies par le principe de précaution
Éditeurs : S. Plaud, A. C. Zielinska
Articles
Sabine PLAUD
Anna C. ZIELINSKA
“La dissémination des interprétations du principe de précaution – Le cas des essais OGM au champ”
ABSTRACT
The Precautionary Principle (PP) became a genuine meta-norm, supposed to frame the decisions concerning several scientific and technological choices in situation of combined uncertainties and controversies. It links scientific, ethical and political aspects. And since it is frequently associated with the participatory principle, or even the pluralism principle, the main topic of this article is to analyse the different interpretations, often partial, and sometimes contradictory, that have been attributed to it during the national debate organised by the (French) Economic and Social Council: “Debate on the GMO and field trials” (2002). It is true that the precautionary principle should be applied in very specific circumstances, in particular in cases where the limitation of scientific expertise is the cause of uncertainty that could not be used as an excuse not to take the appropriate decisions, confronting risks that might provoke serious or/and irreversible harms. In 2002 it was already formulated in French laws and was assumed as familiar to the main protagonists of the debate. Rather than analysing the precautionary principle in abstracto, we are going to investigate how it is “put to the test” inside this very original institutional framework, gathering experts, students and four “wisemen”.
KEYWORDS
Precautionary principle, participative and deliberative democracy, public ethics and expertise, moral sociology of collective assessment
Cass. R. SUNSTEIN
“Au-delà du principe de précaution”
ABSTRACT
My central claim here is conceptual. The real problem with the Precautionary Principle, at least in its strongest forms, is that it is incoherent; it purports to give guidance, but it fails to do so, because it condemns the very steps that it requires. The regulation that the principle requires always gives rise to risks of its own – and hence the principle bans what it simultaneously mandates. I therefore aim to challenge the Precautionary Principle not because it leads in bad directions, but because read for all that it is worth, it leads in no direction at all. The principle threatens to be paralyzing, forbidding regulation, inaction, and every step in between. Protection of the environment and nature often makes sense, but the Precautionary Principle is not a helpful way of identifying when, and how much, protection of nature makes sense.
KEYWORDS
precautionary principle, risk management, cognitive biais
Sabine PLAUD
“Principe de précaution et progrès scientifique”
ABSTRACT
The aim of this paper is to examine the epistemological implications of a generalized application of the precautionary principle. The scientific community is in fact commonly critical towards the precautionary principle, on account of its alleged incompatibility with research, innovation and scientific progress. After identifying the precise upshots of these criticisms, I try defend the precautionary principle by stressing its compatibility with scientific progress.
KEYWORDS
precautionary principle, scientific knowledge, research, innovation, technical progress.
Étienne BRUN-ROVET
“Le principe de précaution entre l’épistémologie et le droit”
ABSTRACT
Despite existing justifications of the logic of the precautionary principle, one important difficulty remains at the level of its application. Indeed, it is not certain that we are able to know that a possible (yet unknown) risk is associated at a given action. This epistemological difficulty might give raise to two criticisms from the legal sphere. First, the principle might be accused of implying an unacceptable reversal of the burden of proof. Second, it is definitely imprecise in its legal formulation. Our examination of the genuine application of the precautionary principle by the Council of State will show that legal decisions manage to delimitate an acceptable field of application for the principle in question. Eventually, it is the analysis of social motivations for a legal interpretation of the precautionary principle that will help us to find the foundations of its correct application.
KEYWORDS
legal practice, social motivation, decision, precautionary principle.
Sébastien GROYER
“Le principe de précaution : un ‘nouveau’ rapport à la nature”
ABSTRACT
The precautionary principle reveals a major shift in the man-nature relationship, nature being understood now as an end and not a mean. Man-nature relationship went from domination to interdependency, where nature is now an objective of human activities. The precautionary principle participates to this new objective by an emphasis on risks coming from technological innovations. It transposes medical practices like prudence or drug monitoring, to environmental practices, symbolizing the disappearance of the opposition between inside (human body) and outside (nature). The precautionary principle hence reveals the integration of nature into man’s ends, the widening of human conscience to his environment, which can no longer be forgotten or neglected, even in the name of scientific uncertainty.
KEYWORDS
Precautionary principle, man-nature relationship, environment, prudence.
J. Peter BURGESS
“L’éthique politique de la sécurité”
ABSTRACT
The paper examines the political significance and interest of resorts to the precautionary principle. The precautionary principle may in fact be invoked by the decision theory in the realm of security, in particular on an international level. How should we face the increasing risks stemming from modern figures of conflicts? Such an increase in risks encourages a growing technologization and globalization of security devices. The uncertainty that pertains to such an evolution of risks points nevertheless to the responsibility of decisionmakers, whose ethical duty lies in a resort to the precautionary principle as a guide towards the future, not only in the field of environment or health, but also in the realm of public security.
KEYWORDS
precautionary principle, security, risk, conflict, technology, ethics, politics
Afschin GANDJOUR
“Interpersonal comparison of welfare in Harsanyi’s veil-of-ignorance model”
ABSTRACT
According to John Harsanyi’s veil-of-ignorance model (1953, 1955) rational observers behind a veil of ignorance seek to maximize the sum of individual utilities. However, Harsanyi’s model is based on the erroneous assumption that the observers’ von Neumann-Morgenstern utility function allows comparing welfare interpersonally. This paper suggests a modification of Harsanyi’s model that allows comparing welfare interpersonally, by using life years in perfect utility or happy life years as a measure of welfare.
KEYWORDS
Interpersonal comparison; John Harsanyi; veil of ignorance; welfare
Jos PHILIPS
“NGO Duties in Relation to Human Rights. A Closer Look at One Proposal”
ABSTRACT
This paper investigates the moral duties that human rights NGOs, such as Amnesty International, and development NGOs, such as Oxfam, have in relation to human rights – especially in relation to the human right to a decent standard of living. The mentioned NGOs are powerful new agents on the global scene, and according to many they might be duty-bearers in relation to human rights. However, until now their moral duties have hardly been investigated. The present paper investigates NGO duties in relation to human rights by looking in particular to a moral theory recently proposed by Leif Wenar, a theory which has some similarities to utilitarianism. In applying this theory, a case for human-rights duties of NGOs is developed mainly by considering the indispensable role that civil society plays in protecting human rights. The paper concludes that, at least, NGOs bear duties with regard to human rights when, as in certain real-life cases, NGO involvement is the only way to achieve acceptable protection against standard threats to certain goods, such as a decent standard of living.
KEYWORDS
NGOs; human rights, moral duties, human right to a decent standard of living; Leif Wenar, moral theory, utilitarianism; civil society.
Comptes Rendus / Book Reviews
POLÍTICA DE CONFIABILIDAD
ETHICS, ECONOMICS & COMMON GOODS, vol. 19, No. 1, enero-junio 2022, es una publicación semestral editada por la Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla A.C., calle 21 Sur 1103, Col. Santiago, C.P. 72410, Puebla, Puebla. Tel. (222) 2299400, https://ethicsand-economics.
Editor responsable: Manuel Alejandro Gutiérrez González. Reserva de Derechos al Uso Exclusivo No. 04-2022071213543400-102, ISSN en trámite, ambos otorgados por el Instituto Nacional del Derecho de Autor. Responsable de la última actualización de este número, Universidad Tecnológica de Querétaro, TSU María Guadalupe García Guerrero, Av. Pie de la Cuesta 2501, col. Nacional, fecha de última modificación, 30 de julio de 2022.
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