Jonathan Glover or the Need for Applied Ethics

Abstract

I introduce here a special issue dedicated to the British philosopher Jonathan Glover (1941-). Recognized as an important figure in applied ethics in the Anglo-Saxon world, Glover does not yet enjoyed the same reputation in the French-speaking world. In 2017, forty years after the original publication of Causing Death and Saving Lives (1977), I published a French translation of the same book, entitled Questions de vie ou de mort (translated by B. Basse, Labor et fides, 2017). In this editorial, I begin by recalling the reasons why Glover considered it necessary in the 1960s to give ethics a more "applied" character. Then I present in broad terms the ethics of "making people die" defended by Glover, resolutely pluralist, and not strictly utilitarian as some may have thought. Finally, I introduce the contributions to this special issue (written by French-speaking authors), as well as the three interviews I conducted with Jonathan Glover, Peter Singer and Jeff McMahan.