Ethics for Disaster

Naomi Zack is professor of philosophy at Lehman College, CUNY. Her recent books are: Ethics and Race: Past and Present Intersections and Controversies, The American Tragedy of COVID-19: Social and Political Crises of 2020, Progressive Anonymity: From Identity Politics to Evidence-Based Government , and Reviving the Social Compact: Inclusive Citizenship in an Age of Extreme Politics.

• Preface to the Second Edition and AcknowledgementsPreface to the Paperback EditionPreface to the First Edition and AcknowledgementsBook Introduction and Overview of parts and chaptersPart I: Ethics1.Disaster Planning: Is Saving the Greatest Number Best?2.Lifeboat Ethics and Disaster: Should We Blow Up the Fat Man?3.Virtues for Disaster: Mitch Rapp and Ernest ShackletonPart II: Politics4.The Social Contract: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Art Spiegelman5.Public Policy: Snakes on a Plane, Fire in the Pentagon, and Disaster Rights6.The Disadvantaged and Disaster: Hurricane KatrinaPart III: The New Disaster-as-Risk World 7.Climate Change: Understanding the basics, including economics.8.Earth, Air, Fire, and Water: The elements of disaster 9.COVID-19 and Minorities: How the worse-off fare worst10.Innocent victims and refugees: Moral and Practical questions Conclusion: A Code of Ethics for Disaster, its Implications, and the Global Water CrisisPostscript to 2nd editionPostscrip

Naomi Zack’s work is distinguished by her careful and considered thought, with a keen eye for the ways that disadvantaged groups can become more vulnerable through disasters. Such dynamics were seen with devastating clarity during the pandemic. This revised and extended volume grapples with the fraught realities of COVID-19 and climate change, examining recent and predicted disasters in reference to the fundamental elements of earth, air, fire, and water. Zack is a sensitive, empathetic thinker with a strong sense for some of the most fundamental challenges we are collectively reckoning with. The new edition of Ethics for Disaster is an important contribution to a set of issues that will unfortunately continue to be central in the years to come.