Metaethics, Normative Ethics, and Applied Ethics Contemporary and Historical Readings

by Fieser, James

• ISBN13: 9780534573843
• ISBN10: 0534573843
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-11-15
• Publisher: Cengage Learning

Summary

METAETHICS, NORMATIVE ETHICS, AND APPLIED ETHICS: CONTEMPORARY AND HISTORICAL READINGS is the first ethics reader to include the three major areas of ethical study: theory, moral problems, and applied ethics. This collection of the most notable essays on ethics past and present also includes newly-edited pieces, revised versions, and several essays that were written specifically for this volume.

Table of Contents

Preface
PART I: Metaethics	1	(138)
Moral Relativism	2	(20)
``A Dialogue,'' from Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751) [A]
David Hume
``The Challenge of Cultural Relativism,'' from Elements of Moral Philosophy (1999)
James Rachels
Moral Realism vs. Moral Skepticism	22	(17)
``Moral Forms,'' from The Republic, Bk. 6, 504d-510b (4th cn. BCE) J. L. Mackie, ``Moral Skepticism,'' from Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong (1977)
Plato
God and Morality	39	(40)
``Euthyphro Dilemma'' from Euthyphro 10a-11b (4th cn. BCE) Thomas Aquinas, from ``The Treatise on Law'' in Summa Theologica (c.1270)
Plato
``Morality Independent of Religion,'' from Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779) and The Natural History of Religion (1757)
David Hume
``The Primacy of God's Will in Theistic Ethics'' (1992) [A] Kai Nielsen, ``God and the Basis of Morality'' (1982)
Philip L. Quinn
Egoism vs. Altruism	79	(23)
``The Selfish Origins of Pity and Charity,'' from Leviathan, (1651) Book 1, ch. 6, Of Human Nature (1650), Ch. 9, sect. 10 and 17
Thomas Hobbes
``The Natural Desire Towards Public Good,'' from Sermons 1 of Fifteen Sermons (1726)
Joseph Butler
``Psychological Egoism'' (1965)
Joel Feinberg
Reason vs. Emotion	102	(22)
Moral Relations,``from Discourse (1706)''
Samuel Clarke
``Moral Distinctions not Derived from Reason,'' from A Treatise of Human Nature, and An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1740, 1751) [A]
David Hume
``The Best Thing to Do,'' from The Moral Point of View (1958)
Kurt Baier
Emotivism and Prescriptivism	124	(15)
``Emotivism,'' from Language, Truth, and Logic (1936)
A. J. Ayer
``Emotivism and Descriptive Meanings of Ethical Terms'' from Ethics and Language (1944)
C. L. Stevenson
``Prescriptive and Descriptive Meaning of Ethical Terms,'' from The Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy and Philosophers (1960)
R. M. Hare
PART II: Normative Ethics	139	(230)
Virtue Theory	140	(35)
``Moral Virtues'' from Nicomachean Ethics Bk. 2 (4th cn. BCE)
Aristotle
``The Misfortunes of Virtue'' (1990)
J. B. Schneewind
``Virtue Theory'' (1991)
Greg Pence
``On Some Vices of Virtue Ethics'' (1984)
Robert B. Louden
Social Contract Theory	175	(47)
``The Nature and Origin of Justice,'' from The Republic (4th cn. BCE)
Plato
``The State of Nature and Laws of Nature,'' from Leviathan, Chapters 13--15 (1651) [A]
Thomas Hobbes
``Hobbes's Social Contract Theory'' [N]
Mark Murphy
from A Theory of Justice (1971)
John Rawls
``Rawls's Theory,'' from Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974)
Robert Nozick
Moral Rights	222	(26)
``Natural Rights,'' from Second Treatise of Government (1690)
John Locke
``The Division of Rights,'' from The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy (1785)
William Paley
United Nations General Assembly, ``Universal Declaration of Human Rights'' (1948)
``The Nature and Value of Rights'' (1979)
Joel Feinberg
Moral Duties	248	(49)
``Duties to God, Self, and Others'' from The Duty of Man and Citizen (1673) [A]
Samuel Pufendorf
The Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Chapter 2 (1785)
Immanuel Kant
``Kant's Categorical Imperative'' [N]
Eric Watkins
The Right and the Good (1930)
W. D. Ross
``Ross's Intuitionist Theory of Duty'' [N]
Martin Curd
Hedonism and Utilitarianism	297	(51)
``Letter to Menoeceus'' (3rd cn. BCE.)
Epicurus
``Happiness and Pleasrue,'' from Utopia (1516)
Thomas More
``Computing the Greatest Happiness,'' from Inquiry Concerning Moral Good and Evil (1725)
Francis Hutcheson
``The Principle of Utility,'' from Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789)
Jeremy Bentham
Utilitarianism (1863) [A]
J. S. Mill
``Morality and Consequences'' [R]
John E. Hare
``A Critical Look at Consequentialism'' [N]
William C. Davis
Feminist Ethics	348	(21)
``Women and Morality'' from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)
Mary Wollstonecraft
``Ethics from the Stand Point of Women'' (1990)
Nel Noddings
``Is There a Female Morality?'' [N]
Michael Levin
PART III: Applied Ethics	369	(136)
Suicide	371	(15)
``Against Suicide,'' from City of God (c. 413 ce)
Augustine
``Whether It Is Lawful to Kill Oneself'' from Summa Theologica (c. 1270)
Thomas Aquinas
``Of Suicide'' (1783)
David Hume
Suicide`` from Lectures on Ethics (c. 1780)
Immanuel Kant
Euthanasia	386	(21)
``Hippocratic Oath'' (c. 400 BCE)
Hippocrates
``Voluntary Death,'' from Utopia (1516)
Thomas More
``Active and Passive Euthanasia'' (1975)
James Rachels
``Active and Passive Euthanasia: An Impertinent Distinction?'' (1977)
Thomas D. Sullivan
``More Impertinent Distinctions and a Defense of Active Euthanasia'' (1978)
James Rachels
Abortion	407	(28)
``Fetuses and the Human Soul,'' from Summa Theologica (c. 1270)
Thomas Aquinas
``An Argument that Abortion is Wrong'' (1996)
Don Marquis
``A Defense of Abortion'' (1971)
Judith Jarvis Thomson
Capital Punishment	435	(21)
``The Death Penalty'' in On Crimes and Punishments (1764)
Cesare Beccaria
``Speech in Favor of Capital Punishment'' (1868)
J. S. Mill
The Case Against the Death Penalty (1997)
Hugo Adam Bedau
``The Ultimate Punishment'' (1986)
Ernest van den Haag
Animal Ethics	456	(24)
``Killing Plants and Animals'' from City of God (c. 413 CE)
Augustine
``Whether it is Unlawful to Kill any Living Thing,'' from Summa Theologica (c. 1270)
Thomas Aquinas
``The Automatism of Animals ''from Letter to Henry More (c. 1648)
Rene Descartes
``Duties towards Animals'' from Lectures on Ethics (c. 1780)
Immanual Kant
``The Case for Animal Rights'' (1985)
Tom Regan
``Do Animals have Rights?'' (1991)
Tibor Machan
Environmental Ethics	480	(25)
``Against the View that God Dwells in Plant Life,'' from Of the Morals of the Manacheans (388 CE)
Augustine
``Primeval Nature'' from Maine Woods (1864)
Henry David Thoreau
``The Land Ethic,'' from A Sand County Almanac (1949)
Aldo Leopold
``An Argument Against Normative Ecocentrism'' [R]
James Fieser
Suggestions for Further Reading	505	(12)
Notes	517	(14)
Acknowledgements	531