Moral Philosophy: A Reader (Fourth Edition)

This collection of classic and contemporary readings in ethics presents sharp, competing views on a wide range of fundamentally important topics: moral relativism and objectivism, ethical egoism, value theory, utilitarianism, deontological ethics, virtue ethics, ethics and religion, and applied ethics. The Fourth Edition dramatically increases the volume’s utility by expanding and updating the selections and introductions while retaining the structure that has made previous editions so successful. (North American rights only)

SKU
26843g

Edited by Louis P. Pojman and Peter Tramel

2009 - 464 pp.

Grouped product items
Format ISBN Price Qty
Cloth 978-0-87220-963-3
$66.00
Paper 978-0-87220-962-6
$50.00
Instructor Examination (Review) Copy 978-0-87220-962-6
$2.00

eBook available for $33.75. Click HERE for more information.

This collection of classic and contemporary readings in ethics presents sharp, competing views on a wide range of fundamentally important topics: moral relativism and objectivism, ethical egoism, value theory, utilitarianism, deontological ethics, virtue ethics, ethics and religion, and applied ethics.

The Fourth Edition dramatically increases the volume’s utility by expanding and updating the selections and introductions while retaining the structure that has made previous editions so successful. North American rights only.

 

Reviews:

"A nice blend of classic readings in moral philosophy supplemented by numerous modern pieces. I plan to use this text as the centerpiece of my course for years to come."
     —Michael A. Growden, United States Air Force Academy

 

About the Authors:

Louis P. Pojman (1935-2005) was Professor of Philosophy, United States Military Academy.

Peter Tramel is Assistant Professor of Philosophy, United States Military Academy.

 


  

Table of Contents:

Preface to the Fourth Edition
General Introduction: What is Moral Philosophy?


I.       What Is Morally Right Conduct?

Introduction: Plato's Moral Philosophy
1. Plato: What Is Right Conduct?


II.     Moral Relativism vs. Moral Objectivism

Introduction
2. Herodotus: Custom Is King
3. Thomas Aquinas: Natural Law
4. Ruth Benedict: Cultural Relativism
5. Louis P. Pojman: A Defense of Ethical Objectivism
6. Gilbert Harman: A Defense of Ethical Relativism


III.   Ethics and Egoism

Introduction
7. Plato: Why Should I Be Moral?
8. Thomas Hobbes: Egoism as the Beginning of Morality
9. Ayn Rand: A Defense of Ethical Egoism
10. James Rachels: A Critique of Ethical Egoism
11. Howard Kahane: Sociobiology, Egoism, and Reciprocity


IV.    Value: What Is the Good?

Introduction
12. Plato: The Good and the Allegory of the Cave
13. Jeremy Bentham: Classical Hedonism
14. Friedrich Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil
15. G.E. Moore: The Good is Not Natural
16. Robert Nozick: The Experience Machine
17. W. D. Ross: Value Pluralism
18. Derek Parfit: What Makes Someone's Life Go Best?


V.      Utilitarian Ethics

Introduction
19. John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism
20. John Hospers: Rule-Utilitarianism
21. Bernard Williams: A Critique of Utilitarianism
22. Sterling Harwood: Eleven Objections to Utilitarianism
23. Brad Hooker: Ideal Code Utilitarianism


VI.    Deontological Ethics

Introduction
24. Immanuel Kant: The Foundations of Ethics
25. Melissa Bergeron and Peter Tramel: Rightness as Fairness:
      Kant's Categorical Imperative
26. W. D. Ross: What Makes Right Acts Right?
27. William Frankena: A Reconciliation of Ethical Theories
28. T: M. Scanlon: A Contractarian Ethics


VII.   Virtue Ethics

Introduction
29. Aristotle: Virtue Ethics
30. Bernard Mayo: Virtue and the Moral Life
31. William Frankena: A Critique of Virtue-Based Ethics
32. Alasdair MacIntyre: The Nature of the Virtues
33. Jonathan Bennett: The Conscience of Huckleberry Finn
34. Rosalind Hursthouse: Virtue and Emotion


VIII.  Morality and Religion

Introduction
35. Plato: The Euthyphro Problem
36. Bertrand Russell: A Free Man's Worship
37. James Rachels: God and Morality are Incompatible
38. C. Stephen Layman: God and the Moral Order
39. Peter Byrne: God and the Moral Order: A Reply to Layman 


IX.    Applied Ethics

Introduction
40. Judith Jarvis Thompson: The Trolley Problem
41. Peter Singer: Famine, Affluence, and Morality
42. Onora O'Neill: Kantian Ethics and World Hunger
43. John T: Noonan Jr.: Abortion is Morally Wrong
44. Mary Anne Warren: The Personhood Argument in
      Favor of Abortion Rights
45. John Rawls: Fifty Years after Hiroshima
46. Michael Walzer: Supreme Emergency
47. Thomas Nagel: War and Massacre 
 

 


 

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