Taking a refreshingly hands-on approach to introductory ethics,
A 21st Century Ethical Toolbox provides students with a set of tools to help them understand and make a constructive difference in real-life moral controversies. Thoroughly optimistic, it invites students to approach ethical issues with a reconstructive intent, making room for more and better options than the traditional "pro" and "con" positions that have grown up around tough problems like abortion and animal rights.
Ideal for introductory and applied ethics courses, this unique text does not treat ethics as a purely academic, historical, or theoretical subject, but as a wide-ranging and ongoing set of challenges that calls for multiple and interwoven kinds of intelligence. It covers the skills that are most vital to making real progress in ethics, including paying careful attention to the values at stake on all sides of an issue; looking for creative opportunities within difficult problems; critical-thinking skills such as defining key terms and making sure to judge similar cases alike; and learning how to engage in constructive dialogue. Instructors can readily use the experiential and applied activities inspired by this "toolbox" of practical skills to design an interactive and collaborative ethics course. Students can carry these essential skills directly from this book into such projects as campaigning for environmental awareness and staffing local homeless shelters.
In addition to his own discussion, Weston includes gripping and provocative short selections from essayists, activists, and philosophers, and also cites his own students. Extensive "Exercises and Notes" sections end each chapter, and a detailed appendix offers instructors advice on how to use the Toolbox in the classroom.
Preface
WELCOME TO THE ETHICAL TOOLBOX
PART I. GETTING STARTED
1. Ethics as a Learning Experience
The Need for Open Minds
Three Easy Routes to a Closed Mind (and How to Avoid Them)
Reading: C.P. Ellis (interviewed by Studs Terkel)
2. Ethics and Religion
Religion's Contributions to Ethics
Religion's Limits in Ethics
Thinking for Yourself
PART II. VALUES
3. Paying Attention to Values
Definitions: Values and Moral Values
Guidelines
Reading: Edward Abbey, "The Great American Desert"
4. Families of Moral Values
Three Families of Moral Values
Mapping Moral Debates
5. Some Traditional Ethical Theories
Utilitarianism
Theories of Right Action
Theories of Virtue
6. When Values Clash: Theoretical Approaches
Utilitarian Strategies: Finding a Single Measure
Non-Utilitarian Strategies: Prioritizing Values
When Theories Stalemate
7. When Values Clash: Integrative Approaches
Another View of Moral Conflicts
Integrative Methods
When to Hold Firm
Reading: Roger Rosenblatt, "How to End the Abortion War
PART III. TOOLS FOR CRITICAL THINKING IN ETHICS
8. Finding the Facts
When Facts Are at Issue
Inferences
9. Watching Words
Loaded Language
When Terms Are Unclear
When Terms Are Contested
10. Judging Like Cases Alike
Consistency Is Not Easy
How to Restore Consistency
Invented Cases
Reading: Colin McGinn, "Speciesism"
PART IV. TOOLS FOR CREATIVITY IN ETHICS
11. Multiplying Options
The Need for Inventiveness in Ethics
How to "Get Out of the Box"
More Provocations: "What If?" Thinking
12. Problem-Shifting
Reframing Problems
Making the Problem an Opportunity
PART V. PUTTING ETHICS INTO ACTION
13. Picking the Right Tools
Know What Your Goals Are
Matching Tools to Goals
14. Dialogue: Learning by Talking
How to Have a Fruitless Debate
How to Have a Useful Discussion
Reading: The Common Ground Network for Life and Choice, "Common Ground Rules"
15. Service: Learning by Helping
Calls to Service
Visits to a Homeless Shelter
Reading: Ram Dass and Paul Gorman, "Compassion: The Witness Within"
PART VI. CONTEMPORARY DEBATES
16. Sexuality
Who Cares About Sex?
Can We Build on Sexual Common Ground?
"Perversion"
Reading: Jason Schultz, "Bachelor Party
17. Abortion
Background
Key Values
Can We Get the Abortion Debate Unstuck?
Reading: Rayna Rapp, "XYLO"
18. Business and Professional Ethics
Ethics and the Professions
Ethics and Business
Reading: Lisa Newton and David Schmidt, "Obviously a Major Malfunction"
19. Poverty and Welfare
Background
Shared Values
Understanding Poverty
Reading: Roemary Bray, "So How Did I Get Here?"
PART VII. THE EXPANDING CIRCLE
20. Animals
Why Should We Care About Animals?
What Can We Do?
Reading: Lori Bauston, "Animal Resuce"
21. Environmental Ethics
Wake-up Calls
Beyond Anthropocentrism?
Integrating Environmental Values
Reading: Violet Woodsorrel Oxalis, "It's a Little Wild Out There"
Notes for Teachers: The Toolbox in the Classroom
Index
Each chapters ends with Exercises and Notes