Johan Hattingh

How can we find an appropriate language in which to formulate our concerns about, and our policy responses to, the problem of invasive alien species? This question arises from the tensions between our conventional vocabulary and the context within which we have to use this vocabulary. Characterized by both globalization and the so-called postmodern conditon, this context confronts us on the one hand with the homogenizing effects of the dominant ideology of advancec industril societies and on the the other hand with a loss of faith in the grand narratives of modernity.

The academic field of biomedical ethics in south Africa is fairly young and is currently going through a phase of properly establishing itself institutionally. At the same time it is confronted with the mulliple challenges of adequately responding to rapidly changing conceptions of the moral dimensions of medical practice. Without claiming to be exhaustive in this regard, this overview intends to highlight a number of the most pressing challenges to biomedical ethics in South Africa today. It will also focus on some of the most salient institutional responses to these challenges, while at the same time referring to a selction of sources where further discussion of these themes can be pursued

The twin concepts of ecological sustainability and ecologically sustainable development have been in circulation in international circles for about three decades. In South Africa these concepts have become cornerstones of both our new Constitution and our National Environmental Management Policy. And yet, there is still a highly intensive and wide ranging debate going on in international as well as national contexts in which both the meaning and implementation of these concepts are contested from different angles. In this article the reasons for this slate of affairs are explored from an ethical perspective, and a number of proposals are made on a philosophical and policy level to respond to the contested nature of these concepts. In an overview of the historical development of the concepts of ecological sustainability and ecologically sustainable development it is shown that they have emerged from different, and to some extent mutually exclusive, contexts. The paper then proceeds 10 a systematic discussion of a number of "fault lines~ within these concepts, in which the focus falls on certain internal tensions that make their interpretation very difficult, if not highly controversial. These tensions are associated with different ethical and ideological positions that can be assumed with regards to questions such as the following: 1. What is so valuable that it can and should be sustainable? 2. With a view to whom or what is the sustainability of this valuable something pursued? 3. How is sustain ability pursued? 4. What are the criteria for sustainabililY? - so that the question whether and when we have reached a state of sustainability can be answered. On the basis of an overview of these "fault lines" it becomes possible to distinguish between different conceptions and different models of ecological sustainabifity and ecologically sustainable development. The value of this taxonomy lies in the clarification that it brings to the muddy waters of ideological posturing about the meaning and implementation of the concepts of ecological sustainability and ecologically sustainable development

_In this paper, we support the adoption of an empirical approach in development ethics research and show that the theoretical insights and methodological guidelines in Sen’s capability approach can offer helpful guidance to development ethicists on designing and execution of such research. To this end, we show how specific insights in the CA guide one to identify and engage with relevant stakeholders in extensive dialogues about the ethical issues underlying their development practices and in gathering empirical data for further ethical reflections. Drawing on an empirical development ethics research project we conducted in the fisheries sector of Ukerewe District in Tanzania, we illustrate how the CA supported us in identifying 310 representatives of various categories of small-scale fishers and stakeholders, and in designing and executing empirical development ethics research in the form of progressive stages of dialogues in stakeholder groups. The participants in these stakeholder groups reflected on and assessed their individual and collective values, capacities, roles and interests in the fisheries sector. In turn, we gathered empirical data on the nature and causes of the poverty of small-scale fishers and ways to overcome it, the __moral roots of the prevalence of institutional and professional apathy, and stakeholders’ motivations and concrete actions to support the redressing of the challenges facing small-scale fishers. Later, we used these empirical data to theorise about moving small-scale fishers from poverty to prosperity, and about the development ethic best suited to guide future initiatives in combatting poverty and generating wealth through the fisheries sector in Ukerewe District._ _Keywords: _Empirical Ethics, Development Ethics, Capability Approach, Small-scale Fisheries, Poverty, Ukerewe District, Tanzania

The nature, methodology, importance and implications of an ethical analysis of value issues pertaining to public decision-making is not evident. In this paper I would like to address these issues by posing the following questions: - Why is it important to focus on values in any process of public decision-making? - What is the nature of an ethical analysis of the value issues involved? - What is the basis, if any, for ethical analysis that moves beyond relativism and subjectivity? - What difference can such an ethical analysis make to public decision-making? During the course of discussing these issues, the question “What is ethics?” will be addressed in passing, as well as the usual objections against ethics and the consideration of value issues in public decision-making, namely that - values cannot be analysed and discussed objectively - values and ethics are relative to people and cultures - value and ethical questions cannot be settled in a rational manner - ethics cannot provide answers - arguments about value and ethical issues move in circles, taking us nowhere - values and ethics are so intertwined with emotions and biases that one cannot take them seriously in any process of public decision-making. S. Afr. J. Philos. Vol.23(3) 2004: 213-225.