*Selections new to this Edition are indicated with an asterisk
1. Thinking About Ethics.
Ethics and Critical Thinking.
Studying Ethics.
God's Commandments and Ethics.
Religion and Ethics.
Reading: Plato, Euthyphro.
Exercises
2. Ethics and Reason.
Reasoning about Ethics.
Elements of Kantian Ethics.
Criticisms of Kantian Ethics.
Conclusion.
Reading: Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals.
Exercises
3. Ethics and Emotions.
Follow Your Reason or Follow Your Heart?
Objective and Subjective Feelings.
Intuitionism.
Conclusion.
Reading: Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature.
Exercises
4. Utilitarian Ethics.
Utilitarian Theory.
Act- vs. Rule-Utilitarians.
Utiliatarians and the Quality of Pleasures.
Criticisms of Utilitarian Ethics.
Nozick's Challenge to Utilitarian Ethics
The Uses of Utilitarian Ethics.
Opposition to Utilitarianism.
Reading: Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation.
Reading: Mill, What Utilitarianism Is.*
Exercises
5. Social Contract Ethics.
Framing the Social Contract.
Fairness and Social Contract Theory: John Rawls.
Gauthier's Contractarian Ethics.
The Social Contract Myth and its Underlying Assumptions.
Conclusion.
Reading: Hobbes, Leviathan.
Exercises
6. Egoism, Relativism, and Pragmatism.
Egoism.
Relativism.
Pragmatism.
Readings: Rorty, Philosophy and Social Hope.
Exercises
7. Virtue Ethics.
The Distinctive Focus of Virtue Ethics.
The Strengths of Virtue Ethics.
Criticisms of Virtue Theory.
Virtue Theory and Medicine.
Reading: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics.
Exercises
8. Care Ethics.
The Neglect of Women's Ethical Views.
The Care Perspectives on Ethics.
Women and Ethics.
Reading: Baier, The Need for More than Justice.
Exercises
9. The Scope of Morality.
Who is Due Moral Consideration?
Moral Agents.
Darwin and the Moral Status of Nonhuman Animals.
Reading: Darwin, The Descent of Man.
Reading: Frans de Waal, Primates and Philosophers.*
Exercises
10. Ethical NonObjectivism.
The Nature of Ethical Nonobjectivism.
Arguments for Ethical Nonobjectivism.
The Continuing Struggle Between Objectivists and Nonobjectivists.
Reading: Ayer, Language, Truth, and Logic.
Exercises
11. Moral Realism.
Contemporary Moral Realism.
Moral Realism and the Argument from Simplicity.
Moral Facts and Scientific Revolutions.
Two Ways that Moral Realism Might Fail.
Reading: Smith, Realism.
Exercises
12. How Hard is Ethics?
The Demands of Ethical Living.
Comparing Ethical Systems on the Basis of Difficulty.
Duty and Feelings.
Reading: Mencius, Book of Mencius.
Exercises
13. Free Will.
Determinism.
Fatalism.
Determinism and Free Will.
Libertarian Free Will and the Rejection of Determinism.
Reading: Wolf, Asymmetrical Freedom.
Exercises
14. Freedom, Moral Responsibility, and Ethics.
Types of Responsibility.
Moral Responsibility and the Utility of Punishment.
Conditions for Moral Responsibility.
Moral Responsibility and Ethics.
Conclusion.
Reading: Nagel, Moral Luck.
Exercises.
15. The Death Penalty.
The Death Penalty Should Be Abolished - Stephen Bright*
The Death Penalty is Morally Legitimate - Louis Pojman*
Exercises*
16. Abortion
Abortion is Immoral - Don Marquis*
Most Abortions Are Morally Legitimate - Bonnie Steinbock*
17: Animal Rights
Nonhuman animals have no basic rights - Richard Posner*
Nonhuman Animals Have Important rights - Peter Singer*
Exercises*
18: Homosexual Sex
Homosexual sex is wrong -- John Finnis*
Homosexual relations are morally legitimate -- John Corvino*
Exercises*
19: What Are Our Global Obligations to the Impoverished?
We have a limited moral obligation to help impoverished people in other countries -- Thomas Nagel*
We have a very strong moral obligation to help impoverished people in other countries -- Thomas Pogge*
Exercises*
20: Can Terrorism Ever Be Justified?
Terrorism is always wrong -- Tony Coady*
Terrorism might sometimes be justified -- Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez*
Exercises*
Glossary
Credits
Index
