Masao Abe, Nara
George Bond, Northwestern
David Chappell, Hawaii
Lance Cousins, Manchester
Richard Gombrich, Oxford
Sue Hamilton, Kings College, London
Ian Harris, St. Martins, Lancaster
Peter Harvey, Sunderland
Rupert Gethin, Bristol
Christopher Ives, Puget Sound
Leslie Kawamura, Calgary
Sallie King, James Madison University
Kenneth Kraft, Lehigh University
William LaFleur, University of Pennsylvania
Christopher Queen, Harvard
Reginald Ray, Colorado
Lambert Schmithausen, Hamburg
Alan Sponberg, University of Montana
Robert Thurman, Columbia
Paul Williams, Bristol
Aims
The Journal of Buddhist Ethics has been established to promote the study of Buddhist ethics through the publication of research, book reviews, and hosting occasional online conferences.
Description
The Journal of Buddhist Ethics is the first academic journal dedicated entirely to Buddhist ethics, and is innovative in adopting a totally electronic mode of publication. In most other respects, however, it functions as a traditional scholarly journal. Research articles as well as discussions and critical notes submitted to the journal are subject to blind peer review.
The Concept of an Online Journal
An online journal differs from a traditional journal in publishing electronically as opposed to a printed format. The Journal of Buddhist Ethics also publishes material on an ongoing rather than a periodic basis, eliminating any backlog between acceptance and publication. An online journal is NOT the same as a newsgroup, discussion list, or bulletin board: The Journal of Buddhist Ethics is none of these things and does not function in this way.
Why Publish Online?
Online journals are a logical development in the use of information technology. The dissemination of information through this medium has three main advantages over publication in the traditional manner, namely, cost, speed, and ease of access. Other advantages of an electronic medium include keyword searching and the use of multimedia and hypertext formats.
Editorial Policy
The editors are committed to the widest dissemination for material published by the journal. As well as publishing online they will also explore possibilities for the publication of the contents of the journal from time to time in partnership with traditional presses.
Subject Classifications
The Journal of Buddhist Ethics interprets "ethics" in a broad sense as including subject matter in the ten areas listed below.
Research into all aspects of Buddhist monastic discipline. The origins and development of the Vinaya; its categories, structure, and organization; its provisions on specific matters; comparative studies of the Vinayas of different schools; legal and jurisprudential principles.
2. Medical Ethics
Issues in contemporary medical ethics and biotechnology; abortion, embryo research, reproductive technologies (IVF, AID etc.), and genetic engineering; AIDS; organ transplants; resource allocation; informed consent; coma patients and the persistent vegetative state; criminal and medical law; suicide; defining death; terminal care and euthanasia; state medicine and health policy.
3. Philosophical Ethics
Theories of ethics and meta-ethics; codes of ethics; moral obligations; altruism and compassion; virtues; patterns of justification; teleological, deontological, and consequentialist theories; situation ethics; the quality of life; the value of life; personhood; ethics and human good; natural law; the status of moral norms; moral absolutes; "skillful means."
4. Human Rights
The Buddhist basis for a doctrine of human rights and its provisions; the concept of "rights" in Buddhism; fundamental rights of individuals; autonomy and self-determination; human dignity; equality; justice; freedom; privacy; the protection of rights; women's rights; international codes, charters and declarations; human rights abuses in Buddhist cultures.
5. Ethics and Psychology
The relationship between psychology and moral conduct; the psychology of moral judgments; the analysis of ethical terminology in the Abhidharma and elsewhere; the concepts of motive, intention, will, virtue, and character; the emotions; desire; love; moral choice and self-determination; related issues in philosophical psychology.
6. Ecology, Animals and the Environment
Responsibilities and obligations toward nature; animal rights; the moral status of animals and non-sentient life; experimentation on animals; philosophy of biology; speciesism; evolution; future generations; the relationship between Buddhist and other environmental philosophies.
7. Social and Political Philosophy
The Buddhist blueprint for a just society; the nature and role of the state; rights and duties of governments and citizens; democracy and alternative political systems; socialism, communism, and capitalism; social, educational, and welfare provisions; Buddhist law; law and ethics; Buddhism and war; nuclear warfare; revolution; capital punishment; justifiable killing; pacifism and ahimsa.
8. Cross-cultural Ethics
Buddhism and comparative religious ethics; methodologies for the study of Buddhist ethics.
9. Ethics and Anthropology
Ethics in practice in Buddhist societies; ethics and social mores; the influence of indigenous customs and attitudes on moral teachings; rites de passage; variation in marriage and other customs; the great tradition and the little tradition; moral relativism; cultural pluralism.
10. Interfaith Dialogue
Similarities and differences between Buddhism and other world religions in the field of ethics; the basis for dialogue; ethics and metaphysics; hermeneutics and the derivation of moral norms from scripture.
In conjunction with the journal an online Global Resource Center has been established with the aim of providing basic research tools for scholars working in the field of Buddhist ethics. At present, the center provides World Wide Web links to a wide range of electronic resources in the general field of Buddhist Studies.
