Article
Article [pdf]
Article [audio]
Letters & CommentsNaomi Zack
Naomi Zack received her PhD in Philosophy from Columbia University. She has taught at the University at Albany, SUNY, and is now Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oregon. Zack’s book publications include: Bachelors of Science: Seventeenth Century Identity, Then and Now (Temple University Press, 1996); Philosophy of Science and Race(Routledge, 2002); Inclusive Feminism (Rowman and Littlefield 2005); Thinking About Race (2nd ed. Wadsworth, 2006). She has spoken widely and published numerous articles on issues of race, gender and seventeenth century philosophy. She teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses on seventeenth century philosophy, race, philosophy of science, feminism, ethics, moral theory, and political philosophy. Her new course, “Philosophy of Disaster and Emergency Response”, is scheduled for Spring 2007. Dr. Zack’s current research project is a monograph, “The Second State of Nature: Government and Morality in Disaster.” Email nzack@uoregon.edu
Philosophy and Disaster
ABSTRACT:
Philosophers have traditionally written from the perspective of ordinary people
and they are as vulnerable to fear as other members of the public.
Academic philosophers can contribute to the multi-disciplinary field of homeland security
and disaster studies through extensions of social contract theory from political philosophy,
and applications of moral systems. The idea of a state of nature is relevant to government’s role
in disaster preparation, response and planning, because disasters often result
in a second state of nature.
All three of the main ethical systems of virtue ethics, deontology, and consequentialism,
are relevant to disaster-related situations in ways that suggest the importance
of being able to combine all three.
Both the applications of political philosophy and moral theory
can be augmented by John Rawls’s idea of distributive justice
and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s idea of the common good.
Finally, the inevitability of human mortality, as emphasized by existentialist philosophers,
can create a wider perspective on disaster.
Read full article.
SUGGESTED CITATION:
Zack, Naomi. “Philosophy and Disaster.” Homeland Security Affairs II, no. 1 (April 2006)http://www.hsaj.org/?article=2.1.5