Synopses & Reviews
From Confucianism to Kants categorical imperative, from the Ancient Greeks to Amnesty International, This essential volume presents ethics through a fascinating global historical lens and relates it to everyday life and 21st-century politics. Peter Cave traces the development of this key branch of philosophy up to the present day, introducing readers to all the main schools of thought. With his characteristic wit and clarity, Cave takes on good and evil, power and politics, and liberalism and relativism, and handily guides us around some of the most common potholes in ethical reasoning. Applying theory to contemporary concepts like corporate social responsibility and bioethical issues such as so-called designer babies, this is an indispensable primer on the subject.
Synopsis
Should we aim to maximize happiness? Are there characteristics that we should foster within ourselves? Why is it important to act morally? From the ancient Greeks to Sartre, from utilitarianism to the categorical imperative, Ethics: A Beginner's Guide presents this vital topic of philosophy via its most influential thinkers and theories.
With characteristic wit, philosopher Peter Cave steers us around well known and not-so-well known ethical traps - in the private sphere, in community life, and in relation to God and religion.
As well as a guide to ongoing theoretical debates, Cave shows how the discipline helps us to confront topical controversies including those of the environment, abortion, and animal welfare. For anyone who questions how we ought to live, there is no better introduction to ethics and how it relates to twenty-first-century society.
About the Author
Peter Cave lectures in philosophy for The Open University and New York University (London). He frequently contributes to philosophy magazines and journals, lectures around the world, and has scripted and presented philosophy programs for the BBC. The author of eight books on philosophy, including
Humanism: A Beginners Guide and
Can a Robot be Human?, he lives in London.