Correspondence

Our correspondence archives contain hundreds of letters. Many of these concern human-rights violations and counseling in personal problems that we deem inappropriate for publication here. To begin with, we have selected the following items, mainly to provide a representative sample of other types of inquiry we receive. 

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Subject: Count me in…

I agree with your perspective, principles, and ethics wholeHEARTedly and with mindful deliberation. But, what can we as individuals DO to foster, facilitate, educate, and bring about a world where these values are allowed to healthfully manifest? It is like Gandhi v. Hitler and the latter’s machine seems to be on auto-pilot.

I’m frustrated.

Over.

Mike M.

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Dear Lester:

Yes, I agree we need a new ‘template for order’, and I agree also that nationalism as we have known it in the past will soon fall to ruins. So where will men go when all hope in the old systems is gone? As I look at Russia, Parts of Africa, India, etc., I see no real solution being offered from the existing United Nations or any other Government, which indicates to me the need for alternate models for order. And if we do not elect to participate in the development of a new model for order, then to who do we look? There will be enough people participating in the despairing conflicts that we can be assured our participation will not be required. Rather the need of ourselves is a willingness to advance a framework for lasting peace and set forth an open invitation to anyone longing for the same. Thank you for your response, and I’ll look forward to continuing the dialogue.

D. J.

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Dear Sir,

I am an undergraduate from Singapore doing an assignment on Ethics and I felt the need to tell you that your essay blew me away.

Thanks for expanding my horizons.

James

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Dear Dr. Shepard,

I wish to ask permission to use your New Ethic article in a course I teach.

J. C., Ph.D.

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The following response from Professor Elliott Sober, co-author with Professor David S. Wilson of Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior,bears on an important point raised in section 6.9.1 of New Ethic.

Dear Mr. Shepard,

I don’t have anything against species selection. I discuss this in the last section of my 1984 book, The Nature of Selection. My views have not changed, really, since then.

Elliott Sober

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I am writing to thank you for this excellent article and informative site. I am requesting permission to circulate the article (with all credits given to the author and information about your site included). We are dealing with a very difficult situation locally. This article would be an excellent resource to help guide the decision making.

I look forward to your response.

M. O.
Alberta, Canada
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Hi!

I’ve just ‘stumbled’ on your page, http://www.ethics1.org which talks about ‘New Ethics’. Although I have not read the entire content, I am already interested. However, it has been my practice to look for any information
about the author of what I am reading.

I would like to grab this opportunity to ask you of who you are, things like this. I am a computerese from the Philippines.

Thank you.
randy-e

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Thanks a lot, Lester. I am starting to read the pages i got from your site.

randy-e

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I am certainly interested in this topic… it has been haunting me since the time I’ve been exposed to the violence and chaos, disunity and “barriers” cause. Typically those of social, political, and religious barriers…. In detail, they are the racial and discriminatory segregation of people’s unknowing tendencies, the political borders and systems with extreme nationalism, and the nature of certain religions to isolate and appeal against other religions by threatening destruction.

A Concerned Citizen of the Earth as a Whole…

D. T.

Tokyo, Japan
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Is it justifiable for a country to commit genocide if in the end it is for the country’s well-being?
What does murder do to a country’s society?
Why is murder bad if we are talking out of the limits of laws?

Please, i would really like some of your comments for my controversial issue paper. If you can answer these questions with some of your beliefs, that would mean the world to me.

David J.

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Your information has been an extremely beneficial asset to my paper. Thank you so much for taking the time to
write back.

David J.
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I am teaching an undergraduate ethics course at Georgia College and State University this fall, and I would like to use some of the material and links that you provide. Is it possible and, dare I say it, ethical for me to do so? I look forward to hearing from you regarding this question.

Sincerely,

Dr. C. K. Robertson
Ethics and Interdisciplinary Studies
College of Arts and Sciences
Georgia College and State University
Milledgeville, GA 31061
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Re: Individual counseling

Hi there!

I am trying to establish an Ethics Committee in my hospital. Are there any categories or guidelines to follow (knowing that this committee will be discussing medical research from an ethical point of view in order to approve research projects)?

Thank you,
abbey
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Re: Individual counseling: i’ve got a question.

How will the internet/world wide web/technological impact affect the ethical values of teenagers and children in the next 20 years’ time?

What will they be like? on the positive side and also the negative side.

Thank you very much for your reply.

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To Mr. Juhasz and Mr. Shepard:

My name is Michael R. and I’m a Senior at Merlo Station High School, Beaverton, Oregon, and I was wondering if I could ask one–perhaps both if time were to allow–of you a few questions in regard to the New Ethics for a journalism class I’m taking this quarter? If I could that would be most appreciated, if not I understand that you may be busy. Thank you for your time.

Michael R.
Issue No.165 of  Issues in Global Education, published by The American Forum for Global Education (www.globaled.org), an organization assisting school systems, state departments of education, and colleges and universities, has prominently featured our United People website, recommending that the principles indicated in it be applied as instructional strategies in middle/secondary schools. We are reproducing the first two pages of their publication below with their permission.

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I am a doctoral student with the University of Phoenix. Yesterday I came across your website and I wanted to compliment you on a the creation of a great tool. I read all of the posted material and am feeling quite enlightened. I am completing my dissertation on the Executive Women’s Decision-Making as Defined by Women in the Context of Leadership. I was wondering if you could direct me to information or studies that have specifically evaluated/researched the way women make decisions that facilitate organizational growth.

BTW I told every member of my cohort about your site.

Francine D. Kemp

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Hello,

Just stumbled across New Ethic while searching for a commentary about competitive sports. (Your piece is exactly what I was trying to articulate). Is this site still functioning? The commentaries seem to have stopped in 2001.

Just curious.

Thanks,

Alana