Ethics History, Theory, and Contemporary Issues

by Cahn, Steven M.; Markie, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780199797264
• ISBN10: 0199797269
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-09-02
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Ethics: History, Theory, and Contemporary Issues,Fifth Edition, features sixty-three selections organized into three parts, providing instructors with great flexibility in designing and teaching a variety of courses in moral philosophy. Spanning 2,500 years of ethical theory, the first part,Historical Sources,ranges from ancient Greece to the twentieth century. It moves from classical thought through medieval views to modern theories, culminating with leading nineteenth- and twentieth-century thinkers. The second 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, while landmark selections reflect concern with moral language and the justification of morality. The concepts of duty, justice, and rights are explored, as well as recent views on cultural relativism and an ethic influenced by feminist concerns. In the third part,Contemporary Moral Problems,the readings present the current debates over abortion, euthanasia, famine relief, animal rights, environmentalism, and the use of torture in interrogations, as well as essays on death and the meaning of life. Wherever possible, each reading is printed in its entirety. The fifth edition features new readings from Cicero, Barbara Herman, and Judith Jarvis Thomson; an expanded selection from Joseph Butler's Fifteen Sermons; and a new translation of Kant's Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals. In addition,the book is supplemented for the first time by a robustsupport package.AnInstructor's Resource CDcontains reading summaries, essay questions, multiple-choice and true/false questions, PowerPoint-based lecture outlines, and relevant website links. ACompanion Website at www.oup/us/cahnprovides most of the material from the Instructor's Resource CD along with student resources including interactive self-quizzes, questions for discussion, and helpful links.

Author Biography

Steven M. Cahn is Professor of Philosophy at The City University of New York Graduate Center.

Peter Markie is Curators' Teaching Professor of Philosophy at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Table of Contents

*= New to this edition
Preface
Introduction
I. HISTORICAL SOURCES
Introduction, Alasdair MacIntyre
1. Plato
Euthyphro
Defence of Socrates
Crito
Phaedo (115d-118)
Republic (selections)
2. Aristotle
Nicomachean Ethics (selections)
3. Epicurus
Letter to Menoeceus
Leading Doctrines
4. Cicero
* On Duties (selections)
5. Epictetus
Enchiridion
6. Augustine
Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love (selections)
7. Thomas Aquinas
Summa Contra Gentiles (selections)
8. Thomas Hobbes
Leviathan (selections)
9. Joseph Butler
* Fifteen Sermons (selections) [expanded]
10. David Hume
A Treatise of Human Nature (selections)
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (selections)
11. Immanuel Kant
Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals
12. Jeremy Bentham
An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (selections)
13. John Stuart Mill
Utilitarianism
14. Friedrich Nietzsche
On the Genealogy of Morals (selections)
15. Albert Camus
The Myth of Sisyphus (selections)
16. Jean-Paul Sartre
Existentialism Is a Humanism
II. MODERN ETHICAL THEORY
Introduction, James Rachels
17. G.E. Moore
Principia Ethica (selections)
18. H.A. Prichard
Does Moral Philosophy Rest on a Mistake?
19. W.D. Ross
The Right and the Good (selections)
20. A.J. Ayer
Language, Truth, and Logic (selections)
21. C.L. Stevenson
The Emotive Meaning of Ethical Terms
22. R.M. Hare
Freedom and Reason (selections)
23. Kurt Baier
The Point of View of Morality
24. G.E.M. Anscombe
Modern Moral Philosophy
25. J. L. Mackie
Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong
26. John Rawls
A Theory of Justice (selections)
27. David Gauthier
Why Contractarianism?
28. Joel Feinberg
Psychological Egoism
29. Barbara Herman
* On the Value of Acting from the Motive of Duty
30. Philippa Foot
Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives
31. Onora O'Neill
Consistency in Action
32. Ruth Barcan Marcus
Moral Dilemmas and Consistency
33. Richard B. Brandt
Some Merits of One Form of Rule Utilitarianism
34. Bernard Williams
A Critique of Utilitarianism
35. Joel Feinberg
The Nature and Value of Rights
36. Gilbert Harman
The Nature of Morality (selections)
37. Nicholas L. Sturgeon
Moral Explanations
38. Allan Gibbard
Moral Judgment and the Acceptance of Norms
39. John McDowell
Values and Secondary Qualities
40. Christine Korsgaard
Skepticism about Practical Reason
41. James Rachels
The Challenge of Cultural Relativism
42. Martha Nussbaum
Non-Relative Virtues: An Aristotelian Approach
43. Virginia Held
Feminist Transformations of Moral Theory
44. Susan Wolf
Moral Saints
45. Thomas Nagel
Moral Luck
III. CONTEMPORARY MORAL PROBLEMS
Introduction, Peter Singer
46. Judith Jarvis Thomson
A Defense of Abortion
47. Mary Anne Warren
On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion
48. Don Marquis
An Argument That Abortion is Wrong
49. Rosalind Hursthouse
Virtue Theory and Abortion
50. James Rachels
Active and Passive Euthanasia
51. Philippa Foot
Killing and Letting Die
52. Peter Singer
Famine, Affluence, and Morality
53. John Arthur
Famine Relief and the Ideal Moral Code
54. Tom Regan
The Case for Animal Rights
55. Carl Cohen
The Case for the Use of Animals in Biomedical Research
56. Elliot Sober
Philosophical Problems for Environmentalism
57. Henry Shue
Torture
58. Daniel J. Hill
Ticking Bombs, Torture, and the Analogy with Self-Defense
59. John M. Taurek
Should the Numbers Count?
60. Derek Parfit
Innumerate Ethics
61. Judith Jarvis Thomson
* Turning the Trolley
62. Thomas Nagel
Death
63. Richard Taylor
The Meaning of Life