Tom Shanks likes to talk about the "ethical reflex" to daily living. It's something he tries to cultivate in his own life. And it's something he fails at, he concedes - miserably, at times.
For instance, there was the time Shanks, a Jesuit priest, drove along the freeway, heading to church to deliver a sermon. In a rush, he cut someone off, and, checking the rear-view mirror, watched the other driver give him a "Rockefeller salute." Hurrying on to Mass, Father Shanks recognized that something wasn't right with this picture and started to think about what it means to be a "virtuous driver."More generally, he thought about what it means to be virtuous. And what happens when two or more people, trying to act virtuously, disagree? Can they be taught to find common ground? When does the common good tran-scend individual interests?
The questions spiral out for Shanks, director for the past five years of Santa Clara (Calif.) University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, an institution with a rising profile that has pushed and promoted a commitment to ethics in public discourse and policy-making.
Ethical issues examined
In conferences, publications, discussion groups and online forums, the center, calling on Santa Clara faculty members and, increasingly, experts from around the country, has examined issues including immigration, welfare reform, the role of fathers in the modern home, same-sex marriages, competitive children's sports and the competing ethical agendas of lawyers and journalists in the O.J. Simpson trial.
Approaching the end of its 10th academic year, the center has joined with several organizations, including The Tech Museum of Innovation, whose new, 32,000-square-foot exhibit space will open next year, replete with explanations of the ethical implications that technological advances pose to society.
"We don't have a way to talk as a community about the issues that matter most to us," says Shanks , whose schedule finds him traveling to address health care, business and professional people. Recently he flew to Tucson to speak to 350 bankers, brokers and investment people about viewing their work through "the filter" of ethics.
It is one of his favorite lessons: That almost every personal interaction raises an ethical question. And that because ethics is about relationships, business is about ethics. After all, every transaction in the marketplace is an exchange between people. Will that exchange be conducted ethically? Will businesses learn that ethical treatment of employees means those employees will become loyal and productive? And that doing good in the workplace "also means doing well in terms of the bottom line?"
Looking for concrete change
It's important to Shanks that concrete changes should emerge from the center's programs, which are legendary for their looping flights of academic oratory. In a sense, they are a reflection of Shanks' persona. He is bright and inquisitive, a great talker, and very much the entrepreneur when it comes to promoting the center and its mission.
In January, Shanks helped pull together most of Simpson's defense team, along with Geraldo Rivera and other celebrity journalists from the trial, for a conference on moral issues involving the courts and media. And while some of the participants homed in on Shanks' theme - that common ground be established between the competing parties - there were also those moments when noble talk disappeared and Leslie Abramson and Rivera started sniping at each other.
Shanks concedes that some people "thought we were capitalizing on all this glitz and glamour."
Not so at the Tech, where the center's efforts will have a visible payoff.
Three years ago, Shanks and his staff began a collaboration with the museum that resulted in its writing a special mission statement - one that commits it to educating the public about the ethical implications of technology. The next step was to rethink the museum's plans for its expansive new galleries: It became clear that gallery descriptions of technological wonders needed to incorporate information on ethical concerns.
Robotics are not just technologically cool; they threaten jobs. Genetic engineering and computer technology are awesome, but also "rife with ethical implications, both subtle and obvious," says Emily Routman, director of exhibit development.
Stories that need to be told
"Tom helped the science people to understand that, embedded inside the technology stories they'd planned, there were ethics stories that also needed to be told," she says. The result is that The Tech will offer "much more than technological boosterism . . . . Without Tom we could not do our job right."
By focusing on California issues such as technology, immigration and medical care - all national issues, as well - Shanks hopes the center "will in fact be influencing the national conversation."