INTRODUCTION

In order to address the practical issues of global ethics – from climate change, through trafficking and terrorism, to the expansion of the global market to include body parts – we need a methodology. It is not enough to simply say “these are bad practices and something should be done”; we need to say in what ways they are bad and give a reasoned account. As well as analysing the problems, because of the global-ethics commitment to connecting theory and practice and influencing the “real world”, we also need to think about ways to improve the situation on the ground. The next three chapters will provide the “toolbox” of global ethics, which will give you the means to approach any dilemma in global ethics. The toolbox will be made up of elements of moral, political and rights-based theories, which will be introduced in turn over the next three chapters. Together these will be sufficient for you to know how to approach any issue. But the toolbox is not “one size fits all”. Everyone's approach is different, and what goes into your toolbox and in what order is up to you. You need to choose the moral, political and rights approaches that you believe are most accurate and most effective. You will need to have reasons for your choices and be able to defend your global-ethics position. Then using the tools you have learnt you will be able to do global ethics.