Living Ethics: An Introduction with Readings

Cover......Page 1
Living Ethics......Page 2
Dedication......Page 6
BRIEF CONTENTS......Page 8
CONTENTS......Page 10
PREFACE......Page 15
Part 1: Moral Theory......Page 18
A. CONVENTIONAL AND CRITICAL MORALITY......Page 20
C. MORAL STARTING POINTS......Page 21
E. MORALITY AND RELIGION......Page 23
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 27
A. VALIDITY AND SOUNDNESS......Page 28
B. NECESSARY AND SUFFICIENT CONDITIONS......Page 30
C. VALID ARGUMENT FORMS......Page 31
D. FALLACIES......Page 34
E. CONCLUSION......Page 37
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 38
A. EGOISM......Page 41
B. RELATIVISM......Page 44
C. ERROR THEORY......Page 47
D. CONCLUSION......Page 51
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 52
Mary Midgley: Trying Out One’s New Sword......Page 53
J. L. Mackie: The Subjectivity of Values......Page 57
A. HEDONISM......Page 63
B. DESIRE SATISFACTION THEORY......Page 66
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 69
John Stuart Mill: Hedonism......Page 70
Robert Nozick: The Experience Machine......Page 76
A. THE NATURE OF CONSEQUENTIALISM......Page 78
B. THE ATTRACTIONS OF UTILITARIANISM......Page 79
C. SOME DIFFICULTIES FOR UTILITARIANISM......Page 80
D. CONCLUSION......Page 85
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 86
John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism......Page 87
A. CONSISTENCY AND FAIRNESS......Page 93
B. THE PRINCIPLE OF UNIVERSALIZABILITY......Page 94
C. HYPOTHETICAL AND CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVES......Page 96
D. ASSESSING THE PRINCIPLE OF UNIVERSALIZABILITY......Page 97
E. KANT ON ABSOLUTE MORAL DUTIES......Page 98
F. THE PRINCIPLE OF HUMANITY......Page 99
G. CONCLUSION......Page 101
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 102
Immanuel Kant: The Good Will and the Categorical Imperative......Page 103
B. THE PRISONER’S DILEMMA......Page 111
C. COOPERATION AND THE STATE OF NATURE......Page 113
D. THE ADVANTAGES OF CONTRACTARIANISM......Page 114
E. THE ROLE OF CONSENT......Page 115
F. DISAGREEMENT AMONG THE CONTRACTORS......Page 116
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 117
Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan......Page 118
A. THE THEORY AND ITS ATTRACTIONS......Page 125
B. THREE CONCEPTIONS OF HUMAN NATURE......Page 126
C. NATURAL PURPOSES......Page 128
D. THE DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE EFFECT......Page 130
E. CONCLUSION......Page 132
Thomas Aquinas: Natural Law......Page 133
A. ETHICAL PLURALISM AND PRIMA FACIE DUTIES......Page 141
B. THE ADVANTAGES OF ROSS’S VIEW......Page 142
C. A PROBLEM FOR ROSS’S VIEW......Page 143
D. PRIMA FACIE DUTIES AND THE TESTING OF MORAL THEORIES......Page 144
E. KNOWING THE RIGHT THING TO DO......Page 145
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 146
W. D. Ross: What Makes Right Acts Right?......Page 147
A. THE STANDARD OF RIGHT ACTION......Page 154
C. MORAL UNDERSTANDING......Page 155
D. THE NATURE OF VIRTUE......Page 156
F. WHO ARE THE MORAL ROLE MODELS?......Page 157
G. CONFLICT AND CONTRADICTION......Page 158
H. THE PRIORITY PROBLEM......Page 159
Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics......Page 160
A. THE ELEMENTS OF FEMINIST ETHICS......Page 168
B. THE ETHICS OF CARE......Page 169
D. AGAINST UNIFICATION......Page 170
F. DOWNPLAYING RIGHTS......Page 171
G. CHALLENGES FOR FEMINIST ETHICS......Page 172
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 173
Hilde Lindemann: What Is Feminist Ethics?......Page 174
Part 2: Moral Problems......Page 182
JUST THE FACTS......Page 184
ARGUMENT ANALYSIS......Page 186
ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS......Page 193
CASES FOR CRITICAL THINKING......Page 194
John Noonan: An Almost Absolute Value in History......Page 197
Judith Jarvis Thomson: A Defense of Abortion......Page 202
Mary Anne Warren: On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion......Page 210
Don Marquis: Why Abortion Is Immoral......Page 219
JUST THE FACTS......Page 226
ARGUMENT ANALYSIS......Page 228
ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS......Page 234
STAT SHOT......Page 235
CASES FOR CRITICAL THINKING......Page 236
Peter Singer: All Animals Are Equal......Page 238
Tom Regan: The Case for Animal Rights......Page 248
Mary Anne Warren: Difficulties with the Strong Animal Rights Position......Page 256
Alastair Norcross: Puppies, Pigs and People: Eating Meat and Marginal Cases......Page 262
R. G. Frey: Moral Standing, the Value of Lives, and Speciesism......Page 272
JUST THE FACTS......Page 282
ARGUMENT ANALYSIS......Page 283
ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS......Page 289
STAT SHOT......Page 290
CASES FOR CRITICAL THINKING......Page 291
Paul Taylor: The Ethics of Respect for Nature......Page 293
Thomas Hill, Jr.: Ideals of Human Excellence and Preserving Natural Environments......Page 301
Eric A. Posner and Cass R. Sunstein: Climate Change Justice......Page 309
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong: It’s Not My Fault: Global Warming and Individual Moral Obligations......Page 318
JUST THE FACTS......Page 328
ARGUMENT ANALYSIS......Page 330
ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS......Page 337
STAT SHOT......Page 338
CASES FOR CRITICAL THINKING......Page 339
James Rachels: The Morality of Euthanasia......Page 341
Leon R. Kass: Why Doctors Must Not Kill......Page 344
Peter Singer: Justifying Voluntary Euthanasia......Page 350
JUST THE FACTS......Page 355
ARGUMENT ANALYSIS......Page 357
ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS......Page 363
STAT SHOT......Page 364
CASES FOR CRITICAL THINKING......Page 365
John Rawls: A Theory of Justice......Page 368
Robert Nozick: The Entitlement Theory of Justice......Page 377
Harry Frankfurt: Equality as a Moral Ideal......Page 385
Elizabeth Anderson: How Not to Complain about Taxes......Page 395
JUST THE FACTS......Page 401
ARGUMENT ANALYSIS......Page 402
ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS......Page 410
STAT SHOT......Page 411
CASES FOR CRITICAL THINKING......Page 412
Peter Singer: The Singer Solution to World Poverty......Page 414
Onora O’Neill: A Kantian Approach to Famine Relief......Page 419
Thomas Pogge: Human Rights and Global Wrongs......Page 424
Michael Huemer: Is There a Right to Immigrate?......Page 428
David Miller: Immigration: The Case for Limits......Page 439
JUST THE FACTS......Page 450
ARGUMENT ANALYSIS......Page 453
ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS......Page 459
STAT SHOT......Page 460
CASES FOR CRITICAL THINKING......Page 461
J. Angelo Corlett: Reparations to Native Americans?......Page 463
Daniel M. Hausman: Affirmative Action: Bad Arguments and Some Good Ones......Page 475
Elizabeth Anderson: The Future of Racial Integration......Page 483
Tommie Shelby: Justice, Deviance, and the Dark Ghetto......Page 495
Chris Lebron: Time for a New Black Radicalism......Page 503
JUST THE FACTS......Page 508
ARGUMENT ANALYSIS......Page 510
ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS......Page 515
STAT SHOT......Page 516
CASES FOR CRITICAL THINKING......Page 517
Michael Walzer: Terrorism: A Critique of Excuses......Page 519
Virginia Held: Terrorism and War......Page 525
Lionel K. McPherson: Is Terrorism Distinctively Wrong?......Page 532
Stephen Nathanson: Can Terrorism Be Morally Justified?......Page 539
JUST THE FACTS......Page 549
ARGUMENT ANALYSIS......Page 551
ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS......Page 558
STAT SHOT......Page 559
CASES FOR CRITICAL THINKING......Page 560
Ernst van den Haag: On Deterrence and the Death Penalty......Page 563
Jeffrey H. Reiman: Civilization, Safety, and Deterrence......Page 565
Igor Primoratz: Justifying Legal Punishment......Page 568
Stephen Nathanson: An Eye for an Eye?......Page 574
JUST THE FACTS......Page 580
ARGUMENT ANALYSIS......Page 582
ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS......Page 589
CASES FOR CRITICAL THINKING......Page 590
Peter de Marneffe: Against the Legalization of Drugs......Page 593
Michael Huemer: America’s Unjust Drug War......Page 602
Robert E. Goodin: Permissible Paternalism: Saving Smokers from Themselves......Page 611
JUST THE FACTS......Page 617
ARGUMENT ANALYSIS......Page 619
CONCLUSION......Page 625
STAT SHOT......Page 626
CASES FOR CRITICAL THINKING......Page 627
Michael Sandel: The Case Against Perfection......Page 629
Julian Savulescu: Genetic Interventions and the Ethics of Enhancement of Human Beings......Page 636
Roberta Millstein: GMOs? Not So Fast......Page 646
Gary Comstock: Ethics and Genetically Modified Foods......Page 653
JUST THE FACTS......Page 658
ARGUMENT ANALYSIS......Page 660
ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS......Page 666
CASES FOR CRITICAL THINKING......Page 667
John Corvino: Why Shouldn’t Tommy and Jim Have Sex? A Defense of Homosexuality......Page 670
Maggie Gallagher: Normal Marriage: Two Views......Page 677
Raja Halwani: Virtue Ethics, Casual Sex, and Objectification......Page 684
Nicholas Dixon: Alcohol and Rape......Page 689
Martha C. Nussbaum: “Whether from Reason or Prejudice”: Taking Money for Bodily Services......Page 696
APPENDIX: The Truth about Philosophy Majors......Page 705
GLOSSARY......Page 711
INDEX......Page 718