Exploring Ethics An Introductory Anthology

by Cahn, Steven M.

• ISBN13: 9780195342000
• ISBN10: 0195342003
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-02-29
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Exploring Ethics: An Introductory Anthology is a remarkably accessible, concise, and engaging introduction to moral philosophy. Steven M. Cahn brings together a rich, balanced, and wide-ranging collection of forty classic and contemporary readings. Most importantly, he has carefully edited thearticles so that they will be exceptionally clear and understandable to undergraduate students. The selections are organized into three parts, providing instructors with flexibility in designing and teaching a variety of ethics courses. The first part, Challenges to Morality, considers the overlysimple answers ideas that beginning students may bring to moral questions. The second part, Moral Theories, provides selections from the most influential ethical theories of the past along with commentary by contemporary thinkers. The third part, Moral Problems, offers opposing perspectives on ninecontroversial issues: abortion, euthanasia, world hunger, terrorism, pornography, affirmative action, animal rights, the environment, and capital punishment. Exploring Ethics features selections from Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Kant, Mill, Nietzsche, Thomas Nagel, James Rachels, John Rawls, Tom Regan, Peter Singer, Susan Wolf, and many others. Each reading is preceded by a detailed introduction and followed by study questions that encourage studentsto think philosophically. Ideal for courses in introduction to ethics or contemporary moral problems, this unique anthology can be used independently or as a companion to a single-authored text. An Instructor's Manual and Companion Website accompany the text.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Morality and Moral Philosophy

Crito, Plato

Challenges to Morality

How Not to Answer Moral Questions

God and Morality

Right and Wrong

The Challenge of Cultural Relativism

Egoism and Moral Scepticism

The Nature of Ethical Disagreement

Happiness and Morality

Moral Theories

The Categorical Imperative

A Simplified Account of Kant's Ethics

Utilitarianism

Strengths and Weaknesses of Utilitarianism

The Nature of Virtue

Ethics and the Moral Life

Master Morality and Slave Morality

Moral Saints

The Social Contract

A Theory of Justice

The Idea of a Female Ethic

Moral Problems

A Defense of Abortion

On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion

Why Abortion is Immoral

Active and Passive Euthanasia

Active and Passive Euthanasia: A Reply to Rachels

Famine, Affluence, and Morality

World Hunger and Moral Obligation: The Case Against Singer

Terrorism

Is Terrorism Distinctively Wrong?

Pornography, Oppression and Freedom: A Closer Look

The Feminist Case Against Pornography

Two Concepts of Affirmative Action

What Good Am I?

The Case for Animal Rights

Why Animals Have No Rights

We Are What We Eat , Tom Regan

People or Penguins: The Case for Optimal Pollution

In Defense of the Death Penalty

Capital Punishment

Conclusion

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

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