Ethics History, Theory, and Contemporary Issues

by Cahn, Steven M.; Markie, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780195178401
• ISBN10: 0195178408
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-07-21
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The most comprehensive collection of its kind, Ethics: History, Theory, and Contemporary Issues, Third Edition, is organized into three parts, providing instructors with flexibility in designing and teaching a variety of courses in moral philosophy. The first part, Historical Sources, movesfrom classical thought (Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, and Epictetus) through medieval views (Augustine and Aquinas) to modern theories (Hobbes, Butler, Hume, Kant, Bentham, and Mill), culminating with leading nineteenth- and twentieth-century thinkers (Nietzsche, James, Dewey, Camus, and Sartre). Thesecond part, Modern Ethical Theory, includes many of the most important essays of the past century. The discussion of utilitarianism, Kantianism, egoism, and relativism continues in the work of major contemporary philosophers (Foot, Brandt, Williams, Wolf, and Nagel). Landmark selections (Moore,Prichard, Ross, Ayer, Stevenson, Hare, Baier, Anscombe, Gauthier, and Harman) reflect concern with moral language and the justification of morality. The concepts of justice (Rawls) and rights (Feinberg) are explored, as well as recent views on the importance of virtue ethics (Rachels) and an ethicinfluenced by feminist concerns (Held). In the third part, Contemporary Moral Problems, the readings present the current debates over abortion, euthanasia, famine relief, animal rights, the death penalty, and whether numbers should play a role in making moral decisions. The third edition expands Part II, Modern Ethical Theory, adding essays by Onora O'Neill, Ruth Barcan Marcus, Allan Gibbard, Nicholas L. Sturgeon, and Martha Nussbaum. Part III, Contemporary Moral Problems, features new essays on abortion by Mary Anne Warren, Don Marquis, and RosalindHursthouse; an essay on the death penalty by Stephen Nathanson; and a debate between John M. Taurek and Derek Parfit on when and why one should save from harm a greater rather than a lesser number of people. The book concludes with an essay by Judith Jarvis Thomson on the trolley problem. Whereverpossible, each reading is printed in its entirety.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Introduction	xiii
I. HISTORICAL SOURCES
Introduction	1	(4)
Alasdair MacIntyre
Plato	5	(119)
Euthyphro	5	(11)
Defence of Socrates	16	(17)
Crito	33	(9)
Phaedo (115d--118)	42	(2)
Republic (selections)	44	(80)
Aristotle	124	(54)
Nicomachean Ethics (selections)	124	(54)
Epicurus	178	(5)
Letter to Menoeceus	178	(2)
Leading Doctrines	180	(3)
Epictetus	183	(12)
Enchiridion	183	(12)
Augustine	195	(7)
Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love (selections)	195	(7)
Thomas Aquinas	202	(16)
Summa Contra Gentiles (selections)	202	(16)
Thomas Hobbes	218	(11)
Leviathan (selections)	218	(11)
Joseph Butler	229	(15)
Fifteen Sermons (selections)	229	(15)
David Hume	244	(26)
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (selections)	244	(26)
Immanuel Kant	270	(39)
Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals	270	(39)
Jeremy Bentham	309	(8)
An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (selections)	309	(8)
John Stuart Mill	317	(35)
Utilitarianism	317	(35)
Friedrich Nietzsche	352	(9)
Beyond Good and Evil (selections)	352	(3)
On the Genealogy of Morals (selections)	355	(3)
Twilight of the Idols (selections)	358	(3)
William James	361	(12)
The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life	361	(12)
John Dewey	373	(14)
The Quest for Certainty (selections)	373	(14)
Albert Camus	387	(9)
The Myth of Sisyphus (selections)	387	(9)
Jean-Paul Sartre	396	(17)
Existentialism Is a Humanism	396	(7)
II. MODERN ETHICAL THEORY
Introduction	403	(10)
James Rachels
G. E. Moore	413	(6)
Principia Ethica (selections)	413	(6)
H. A. Prichard	419	(10)
Does Moral Philosophy Rest on a Mistake?	419	(10)
W. D. Ross	429	(10)
The Right and the Good (selections)	429	(10)
A. J. Ayer	439	(6)
Language, Truth, and Logic (selections)	439	(6)
C. L. Stevenson	445	(11)
The Emotive Meaning of Ethical Terms	445	(11)
R. M. Hare	456	(10)
Freedom and Reason (selections)	456	(10)
Kurt Baier	466	(15)
The Point of View of Morality	466	(15)
G. E. M. Anscombe	481	(12)
Modern Moral Philosophy	481	(12)
John Rawls	493	(23)
A Theory of Justice (selections)	493	(23)
David Gauthier	516	(11)
Why Contractarianism?	516	(11)
Joel Feinberg	527	(8)
Psychological Egoism	527	(8)
Philippa Foot	535	(6)
Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives	535	(6)
Onora O'Neill	541	(17)
Consistency in Action	541	(17)
Ruth Barcan Marcus	558	(10)
Moral Dilemmas and Consistency	558	(10)
Richard B. Brandt	568	(17)
Some Merits of One Form of Rule Utilitarianism	568	(17)
Bernard Williams	585	(16)
A Critique of Utilitarianism	585	(16)
Allan Gibbard	601	(13)
Moral Judgment and the Acceptance of Norms	601	(13)
Joel Feinberg	614	(11)
The Nature and Value of Rights	614	(11)
Gilbert Harman	625	(11)
The Nature of Morality (selections)	625	(11)
Nicholas L. Sturgeon	636	(15)
Moral Explanations	636	(15)
James Rachels	651	(8)
The Challenge of Cultural Relativism	651	(8)
Martha Nussbaum	659	(20)
Non-Relative Virtues: An Aristotelian Approach	659	(20)
Virginia Held	679	(16)
Reason, Gender, and Moral Theory	679	(16)
James Rachels	695	(11)
The Ethics of Virtue	695	(11)
Susan Wolf	706	(13)
Moral Saints	706	(13)
Thomas Nagel	719	(14)
Moral Luck	719	(10)
III. CONTEMPORARY MORAL PROBLEMS
Introduction	729	(4)
Peter Singer
Judith Jarvis Thomson	733	(11)
A Defense of Abortion	733	(11)
Mary Ann Warren	744	(10)
On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion	744	(10)
Don Marquis	754	(11)
An Argument That Abortion Is Wrong	754	(11)
Rosalind Hursthouse	765	(14)
Virtue Theory and Abortion	765	(14)
James Rachels	779	(4)
Active and Passive Euthanasia	779	(4)
Philippa Foot	783	(6)
Killing and Letting Die	783	(6)
Peter Singer	789	(8)
Famine, Affluence, and Morality	789	(8)
John Arthur	797	(12)
Famine Relief and the Ideal Moral Code	797	(12)
Tom Regan	809	(8)
The Case for Animal Rights	809	(8)
Carl Cohen	817	(7)
The Case for the Use of Animals in Biomedical Research	817	(7)
Ernest van den Haag	824	(10)
In Defense of the Death Penalty	824	(10)
Stephen Nathanson	834	(10)
An Eye for an Eye: The Morality of Punishing by Death	834	(10)
John M. Taurek	844	(13)
Should the Numbers Count?	844	(13)
Derek Parfit	857	(9)
Innumerate Ethics	857	(9)
Judith Jarvis Thomson	866	(1)
The Trolley Problem	866