Ethics and Politics of Public Service

Catalog description

Public service is private action for the public good, work done by individuals and groups that aims at some vision of helping society or the world. This course examines some of the many ethical and political questions that arise in doing public service work, whether volunteering, service learning, humanitarian endeavors overseas, or public service professions such as medicine, teaching, or even "ethical investing" and "ethical entrepreneurship." What motives do people have to engage in public service work? Are self-interested motives troublesome? What is the connection between service work and justice? Should the government or schools require citizens or students to perform service work? Is mandatory service an oxymoron?