Exploring Ethics: An Introductory Anthology

by Cahn, Steven M.

• ISBN13: 9780199946587
• ISBN10: 0199946582
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-09-13
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In this remarkably accessible, concise, and engaging introduction to moral philosophy, Steven M. Cahn brings together a rich, balanced, and wide-ranging collection of fifty readings on ethical theory and contemporary moral issues. He has carefully edited all the articles to ensure that they will be exceptionally clear and understandable to undergraduate students. The selections are organized into three parts--Challenges to Morality, Moral Theories, and Moral Problems--providing instructors with flexibility in designing and teaching a variety of ethics courses. Each reading is followed by study questions.

The third edition of Exploring Ethics provides more coverage of contemporary problems, featuring new selections on euthanasia, capital punishment, animal rights, affirmative action, academic ethics, the trolley problem, and the meaning of life. A Companion Website at www.oup.com/us/cahn offers a password-protected Instructor's Manual--containing a test bank, key terms with definitions, reading summaries, and PowerPoint lectures--and self-quizzes, vocabulary flashcards, and useful links for students.

Author Biography

Steven M. Cahn is Professor of Philosophy at The City University of New York Graduate Center. He is the author or editor of fifty books. Most recently, he wrote From Student to Scholar: A Candid Guide to Becoming a Professor (2008) and coauthored Polishing Your Prose: How to Turn First Drafts into Finished Work (2013). Dr. Cahn is the editor of Exploring Philosophy, Fourth Edition (2011), Classic and Contemporary Readings in the Philosophy of Education, Second Edition (2011), and Political Philosophy, Second Edition (2010), all published by Oxford University Press.

Table of Contents

*=New to this Edition
Preface
INTRODUCTION
1. Morality and Moral Philosophy, William K. Frankena
2. Crito, Plato
3. Phaedo, Plato
4. Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr.
PART I: CHALLENGES TO MORALITY
5. How Not to Answer Moral Questions, Tom Regan
6. God and Morality, Steven M. Cahn
7. The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, James Rachels
8. Right and Wrong, Thomas Nagel
9. Egoism and Moral Scepticism, James Rachels
10. Happiness and Immorality, Steven M. Cahn and Jeffrie G. Murphy
11. The Nature of Ethical Disagreement, Charles L. Stevenson
PART II: MORAL THEORIES
12. The Categorical Imperative, Immanuel Kant
13. A Simplified Account of Kant's Ethics, Onora O'Neill
14. Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill
15. Strengths and Weaknesses of Utilitarianism, Louis P. Pojman
16. The Nature of Virtue, Aristotle
17. Virtue Ethics, Bernard Mayo
18. The Ethics of Care, Virginia Held
19. The Social Contract, Thomas Hobbes
20. A Theory of Justice, John Rawls
PART III: MORAL PROBLEMS
A. ABORTION
21. A Defense of Abortion, Judith Jarvis Thomson
22. On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion, Mary Anne Warren
23. Why Abortion Is Immoral, Don Marquis
24. Virtue Theory and Abortion, Rosalind Hursthouse
B. EUTHANASIA
25. Active and Passive Euthanasia, James Rachels
* 26. The Intentional Termination of Life, Bonnie Steinbock
C. WORLD HUNGER
27. Famine, Affluence, and Morality, Peter Singer
28. World Hunger and Moral Obligations: The Case Against Singer, John Arthur
D. TERRORISM
29. Terrorism, Michael Walzer
30. Is Terrorism Distinctively Wrong?, Lionel K. McPherson
E. TORTURE
31. Torture, Henry Shue
32. Ticking Bombs, Torture, and the Analogy with Self-Defense, Daniel J. Hill
F. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
* 33. The Morality of Capital Punishment, Walter Berns
* 34. The Death Penalty as a Symbolic Issue, Stephen Nathanson
G. ANIMAL RIGHTS
35. The Case for Animal Rights, Tom Regan
36. Why Animals Have No Rights, Carl Cohen
* 37. Speaking of Animal Rights, Mary Anne Warren
H. THE ENVIRONMENT
38. We Are What We Eat, Tom Regan
39. Philosophical Problems for Environmentalism, Elliott Sober
I. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
40. Two Concepts of Affirmative Action, Steven M. Cahn
41. What Good Am I?, Laurence Thomas
* 42. The Truth in Advertising, Tom L. Beauchamp
J. ACADEMIA
* 43. Consensual Sex on Campus, Leslie Pickering Francis
* 44. The Letter Writer's Dilemma, George Sher
K. LIFE AND DEATH
* 45. The Trolley Problem, Judith Jarvis Thomson
* 46. Turning the Trolley, Judith Jarvis Thomson
47. Death, Thomas Nagel
L. THE MEANING OF LIFE
48. The Meaning of Life, Richard Taylor
* 49. Meaning in Life, Susan Wolf
* 50. Meaningful Lives?, Christine Vitrano
Index