Ethics of Protection II: Basic Outline

Abstract

Protection is not an ethical principle as such, for it needs to be contextualized and adapted to a variety of situations and circumstances, at the same time requiring structure and specification to support practical decision-making. The main purpose of protection is to recognize and attend the needs of the helpless, appealing to the powerful to safeguard and secure the basic goods required for biological survival and social empowerment. Beyond providing material support for basic physical needs, protection furthers the acquisition of essential capabilities required to become integrated and cooperative community members: medical care, education, training in basic skills. Social protection includes institutions and arrangements to remedy the effects of disrupting events—disease, severe material losses, unemployment. In addition to being need-sensitive, protection is distance-neutral, acknowledging the destitution and help requirements of the marginalized and the distant.

The ethics of protection focuses on national goals, but also calls for international obligations to take care of world-wide destitution, inasmuch as the vested interests of globalization are holistic in their ecological and socioeconomic effects. Global commitment is often required as ex post responsibility for past colonial and exploitative politics, but protection emphasizes ex ante responsibility: present and future international ventures and agreements ought to include in their inception proactive and comprehensive protective commitments.