Bloomsbury Academic Ethics for Policymaking: A Methodological Analysis: 257 (Contributions in Political Science)

In Ethics for Policymaking,Eugene Meehan presents a sustained argument in favor of a particular perspective on the relationship between normative judgments or arguments and policymaking, based upon a radically different approach to providing a justification for actions, whether individual or collective. Meehan's overall objective is to establish the knowledge requirements, empirical and normative, for defensible/corrigible policymaking and thereby to produce an analytic apparatus that can be used to improve intellectual performance in the conduct of real world affairs. By grounding the meanings of fundamental concepts such as knowledge and policy within a suitable analytic framework, a major source of disagreement and misunderstanding among those concerned to further the quest for useful knowledge is eliminated, and the possibilities of productive knowledge transfers among specialized disciplines are much enhanced. Following a detailed introductory essay, Meehan approaches his complex subject by developing the intellectual requirements for directing actions, focusing on criteria of adequacy applicable to inductive cognitive systems and on the theoretical assumptions underlying them. After a brief summary of empirical requirements the normative apparatus required for defensible policymaking is examined at length in three stages: first an analysis is made of the kind of conceptual apparatus that the enterprise requires; second, a way of justifying preferences that avoids the major pitfalls inherent in limited human capacity is produced; third, other constraints and possibilities that flow from the need to make policy within a social context are explored. The discussion concludes with a brief examination of the major intellectual, social, and political implications of the analysis. Those involved in activities in which major policy decisions will profoundly affect the well-being of client populations and students and scholars of applied political theory will also find this text invaluable. Review ?With this work, Meehan continues his decades long analysis of problems involved in formulating policy alternatives in a rationally grounded social science. His stated objective has been 'to establish the knowledge requirements, empirical and normative, for defensible or corrigible policymaking.'The previous 'empirical' discussion centered around the development of an educational program designed to train students of policy analysis in the 'Three As' acquiring, augmenting, and applying knowledge. In the present work, he turns his attention to the normative requirements for directed human activity. His unit of analysis is the 'action', not the actor, and the analysis itself borrows heavily from both behavioralism and utilitarianism, yet it is purposefully unconstrained by these admittedly limiting points of view. His utilitarian aspect more resembles that of the later Mill than the earlier Bentham. Nor does the analysis remain at one level, instead Meehan shifts easily between metaphysical/epistemological considerations and concrete policy difficulties. The complex ideas advanced are well illustrated with many specific examples. The book is thoroughly enjoyable, but, although not highly technical--it is eminently quotable--it is written in a discipline-specific language that may not be accessible to the average reader. Upper-division undergraduates and above.?-Choice "With this work, Meehan continues his decades long analysis of problems involved in formulating policy alternatives in a rationally grounded social science. His stated objective has been 'to establish the knowledge requirements, empirical and normative, for defensible or corrigible policymaking.'The previous 'empirical' discussion centered around the development of an educational program designed to train students of policy analysis in the 'Three As' acquiring, augmenting, and applying knowledge. In the present work, he turns his attention to the n