ABSTRACT
The five chapters in this part are concerned with the relationship between ethical theory and planning practice. Ethical theory can be enlightening in itself. As the first part of this book has demonstrated, it is not by any means a monolithic body of thought (Harper and Stein 1992). Utilitarian ideas of ethics have vied with deontological ones for ascendancy over Western thought since the eighteenth century. In recent years, neo-Marxist ethics as interpreted in the critical theory of Jurgen Habermas (Benhabib and Dallmayr 1990; McCarthy 1978) has been receiving considerable attention in planning (Forester 1980, 1985; Innes 1990). Communitarian ethics has just begun to have an impact in planning but has its intellectual roots in ancient Greece (MacIntyre 1985). Having some understanding of these various ethical theories and controversies can provide insight into the nature of ethical dilemmas in planning and can help each person to clarify his or her own particular approach to ethics.
