Marilyn Fischer – författare

In Jane Addams's Evolutionary Theorizing, Marilyn Fischer advances the bold and original claim that Addams's reasoning in her first book, Democracy and Social Ethics, is thoroughly evolutionary. While Democracy and Social Ethics, a foundational text of classical American pragmatism, is praised for advancing a sensitive and sophisticated method of ethical deliberation, Fischer is the first to explore its intellectual roots. Examining essays Addams wrote in the 1890s and showing how they were revised for Democracy and Social Ethics, Fischer draws from philosophy, history, literature, rhetoric, and more to uncover the array of social evolutionary thought Addams engaged with in her texts--from British socialist writings on the evolution of democracy to British and German anthropological accounts of the evolution of morality. By excavating Addams's evolutionary reasoning and rhetorical strategies, Fischer reveals the depth, subtlety, and richness of Addams's thought.

Using a rich array of newly available sources and contemporary methodologies from many disciplines, the ten original essays in this volume give a fresh appraisal of Addams as a theorist and practitioner of democracy. In an increasingly interdependent world, Addams's life work offers resources for activists, scholars, policy makers, and theorists alike. This volume demonstrates how scholars continue to interpret Addams as a model for transcending disciplinary boundaries, generating theory out of concrete experience, and keeping theory and practice in close and fruitful dialogue.Contributors are Harriet Hyman Alonso, Victoria Bissell Brown, Wendy Chmielewski, Marilyn Fischer, Shannon Jackson, Louise W. Knight, Carol Nackenoff, Karen Pastorello, Wendy Sarvasay, Charlene Haddock Seigfried, and Camilla Stivers.

"Fund raisers, given their flaws and fineness, working in flawed and fine institutions with flawed and fine clients, need to carry out their everyday tasks of decency and joy here and now. . . . This book is about thinking with care and grace about everyday grit." In her brilliant and provocative new book, Ethical Decision Making in Fund Raising, author and philosophy professor Marilyn Fischer provides conceptual tools with which a nonprofit can thoroughly examine the ethics of how and from whom it seeks donations. Using the book's Ethical Decision-Making Model, the author explains how fund raisers can use their basic value commitments to organizational mission, professional relationships, and personal integrity as day-to-day touchstones for making balanced, ethical, fund-raising decisions. For ethically troubling situations that have no clear-cut solutions, the book shows how to frame these dilemmas as ongoing dramatic narratives. Using conceptual tools of sympathetic understanding, attention to social and temporal context, and clusters of philanthropic virtues, the Ethical Decision-Making Model guides us in thinking our way to ethically sound resolutions. Through this process, we can sustain and enrich the circle of giving of the philanthropic gift economy. The book also examines day-to-day issues of fund raising: privacy and confidentiality; conflicts of interest such as finder's fees and commission-based pay; corporate philanthropy, including sponsorships and cause-related marketing; and fostering cultural diversity. Each chapter concludes with discussion questions and additional case studies for readers' reflection and analysis. Ethical Decision Making in Fund Raising is a fascinating look at the history of philanthropy in its many social forms and historical contexts, as well as an exuberant manifesto for nonprofits on making clear ethical thinking an effective corporate tool.