Ethical Ways of Being (2002)

by Dirk Kotze, Johan Myburg, Johann Roux, and Associates
327 pages; $25 plus shipping and handling (volume discounts at Shopping Cart)
ISBN: 0-9584328-3-X
 

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Ethical Ways Of Being explores our search for ethicising ideas and practice in the world of doing and researching care, counselling and therapy. In a culture of scientific "knowledge" and religious "truths", people often become objects of the superior knowledge "experts" have about them. People are subsequently "studied", "diagnosed", "treated", "prescribed" and their own wisdoms and experiences are silenced or ignored.

The authors argue for a participatory ethicising approach that includes the voices of all, especially those affected most by being silenced, marginalized, or oppressed. This book is not about specific or controversial ethical issues, but about everyday life in a world of politics and power, where some benefit and many suffer.

Reflections on the ideas of ethicising participation find their way into the various stories that retell our diverse struggles in doing ethics with, rather than about people.

The authors are from the Institute for Therapeutic Development (ITD) in South Africa.