Moral Dimensions of Public Policy Choice

Combining philosophy with pratical politics, an expanding area of policy studies applies moral precepts, critical principles and conventional values to collective decisions. This evolving new approach to policy analysis asserts that the same variety of ethical principles available to the individual are also available to make collective decisions in the public interest and should be used. Although policy analysis has long been dominated by assumptions originally developed for the examination of markets, such as efficiency, these essays by leading scholars explore alternatives to the ""market paradigm"" and show how moral discrimination and choice can extend beyond the individual to encompass public decisions. Chapters by John Martin Gillroy and Maurice Wade review the politicial philosophies of Immanuel Kant and David Hume as backgrounds for the development of modern concepts of public policy choice. They present this anthology as a first step in codifying options, arguments and methods within this important developing area of policy studies.