Disputed Moral Issues A Reader

by Timmons, Mark

• ISBN13: 9780195177633
• ISBN10: 0195177630
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-12-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Ideal for courses in contemporary moral problems, introduction to ethics, and applied ethics, Disputed Moral Issues: A Reader is a comprehensive anthology that brings together sixty-seven engaging articles on a wide range of contemporary moral issues. Carefully selected and edited for an undergraduate audience, the essays are organized into twelve chapters that cover: * Sexual morality * Pornography, hate speech, and censorship * Drugs, gambling, and addiction * Sexism, racism, and reparation * Euthanasia and suicide * Abortion * Cloning and genetic enhancement * The death penalty * War, terrorism, and torture * World hunger and poverty * Animals * The environment Striking a unique balance between moral theory and applied ethics, editor Mark Timmons provides students with an accessible Moral Theory Primer (Chapter 1), in which he outlines the guiding principles of moral theory, presents six central moral theories, and relates those theories to the issues debated in the articles. Each of the remaining chapters is preceded by an introduction that explains key concepts and shows how theories from the Moral Theory Primer are connected to the arguments presented in that chapter's essays. Each selection is preceded by a brief summary and reader cues, which direct students to a specific section of the Moral Theory Primer in order to best help them understand the essay in question. A "Quick Guide to Moral Theories" appendix, an extensive glossary of key terms, and suggested further readings after each chapter further enhance the text. A "User's Guide," which follows the preface, shows instructors how they can integrate moral theories and applied ethics into their courses.

Table of Contents

open with an Introduction and end with Further Reading

Preface: User''s Guide

A Moral Theory Primer

What Is a Moral Theory?

Six Essential Moral Theories

Consequentialism

Natural Law Theory

Kantian Moral Theory

Rights-Based Moral Theory

Virtue Ethics

Ethics of Prima Facie Duty

Coping with Many Moral Theories

Ethics by Authority?

Sexual Morality

Vatican Declaration on Some Questions of Sexual Ethics

A Liberal View of Sexual Morality and the Concept of Using Another Person

Virtue Ethics and Adultery

Against Homosexual Marriage

Why Shouldn''t Tommy and Jim Have Sex? A Defense of Homosexuality

Should Feminists Oppose Prostitution?

Pornography, Hate Speech, and Censorship

The Attorney General''s Commission on Pornography

Pornography and Harm

Why Censoring Pornography Would Not Reduce Discrimination or Violence against Women

Liberty and Pornography

Pornography and Degradation

Racist Speech as the Functional Equivalent of Fighting Words

Drugs, Gambling, and Addiction

Drug-Free America or Free America?

Against the Legalization of Drugs

Permissible Paternalism: Saving Smokers from Themselves

Addiction and Drug Policy

Why Is Gambling Wrong?

Is Gambling Immoral? A Virtue Ethics Approach

Sexism, Racism, and Reparation

Marilyn Frye

Racism as a Model for Understanding Sexism

Racist Acts and Racist Humor

Reparations to Native Americans?

Why Affirmative Action Is Immoral

The Message of Affirmative Action

Euthanasia and Suicide

Suicide as a Violation of Duty to Oneself

Active and Passive Euthanasia

The Intentional Termination of Life

Voluntary Active Euthanasia

Assisted Suicide: Pro-Choice or Anti-Life?

Assisted Suicide Is Not Voluntary Active Euthanasia

Abortion

The Unspeakable Crime of Abortion

On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion

A Defense of Abortion

Why Abortion Is Immoral

A Kantian Argument against Abortion

Virtue Theory and Abortion

Cloning and Genetic Enhancement

Liberty, Identity, and Human Cloning

Preventing Brave New World

Will Cloning Harm People?

Human Cloning: A Kantian Approach

The Case against Perfection

The Death Penalty

Punishment and the Principle of Equality

An Eye for an Eye?

A Defense of the Death Penalty

The Case against the Death Penalty

Capital Attrition: Error Rates in Capital Cases, 1973-1995

War, Terrorism, and Torture

Does Morality Apply to War?

Terrorism and Morality

After 9/11: Five Questions about Terrorism

Terrorism and International Justice

Torture

Should the Ticking Bomb Terrorist Be Tortured?

World Hunger and PovertyGarrett Hardin

Lifeboat Ethics

Famine, Affluence, and Morality

World Hunger and Moral Obligation

Property and Hunger

A Kantian Approach to World Hunger

AnimalsPeter Singer

All Animals Are Equal

In Defense of Speciesism

The Case for Animal Rights

Human and Animal Rights Compared

A New Argument for Vegetarianism

The EnvironmentWilliam F. Baxter

People or Penguins: The Case for Optimal Pollution

The Land Ethic

The Ethics of Re

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