Metaethics Normative Ethics & Applied Ethics Historical & Contemporary Readings

METAETHICS, NORMATIVE ETHICS, AND APPLIED ETHICS: CONTEMPORARY AND HISTORICAL READINGS is the first ethics reader to include the three major areas of ethical study: theory, moral problems, and applied ethics. This collection of the most notable essays on ethics past and present also includes newly edited pieces, revised versions, and several essays that were written specifically for this volume.

James Fieser is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tennessee at Martin. He received his B.A. from Berea College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from Purdue University. He is author, co-author, or editor of ten textbooks, including SOCRATES TO SARTRE AND BEYOND (9/e 2011), ETHICAL THEORY: CLASSICAL AND CONTEMPORARY READINGS (6/e 2010), A HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY (2003), and MORAL PHILOSOPHY THROUGH THE AGES (2001). He has edited and annotated the ten-volume EARLY RESPONSES TO HUME (2/e 2005) and the five-volume SCOTTISH COMMON SENSE PHILOSOPHY (2000). He is founder and general editor of the

Preface. PART ONE: METAETHICS. 1. MORAL RELATIVISM. David Hume: A Dialogue. James Rachels: The Challenge of Cultural Relativism. 2. MORAL REALISM VS. MORAL SKEPTICISM. Plato: Moral Forms. J.L. Mackie: Moral Skepticism. 3. GOD AND MORALITY. Plato: Euthyphro Dilemma. Thomas Aquinas: from The Treatise on Law. David Hume: Morality Independent of Religion. Philip L.Quinn: The Primacy of Gods Will in Theistic Ethics. Kai Nielsen: God and the Basis of Morality. 4. EGOISM VS. ALTRUISM. Thomas Hobbes: The Selfish Origins of Pity and Charity. Joseph Butler: The Natural Desire Towards Public Good. Joel Feinberg: Psychological Egoism. 5. REASON VS. EMOTION. Samuel Clarke: Moral Relations. David Hume: Moral Distinctions not Derived from Reason. Kurt Baier: The Best Thing to Do. 6. EMOTIVISM AND PRESCRIPTIVISM. A.J.Ayer: Emotivism. C.L. Stevenson: Emotivism and Descriptive Meanings of Ethical Terms. R.M. Hare: Prescriptive and Descriptive Meanings of Ethical Terms. PART TWO: NORMATIVE ETHICS. 7. VIRTUE THEORY. Aristotle: Moral Virtues. J.B. Scheewind: The Misfortunes of Virtue. Greg Pence: Virtue Theory. Robert B. Louden: On Some Vices of Virtue Ethics. 8. SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY. Plato: The Nature and Origin of Justice. Thomas Hobbes: The State of Nature and Laws of Nature. Mark Murphy: Hobbess Social Contract Theory. John Rawls: from A Theory of Justice. Robert Nozick: Rawlss Theory. 9. MORAL RIGHTS. John Locke: Natural Rights. William Paley: The Division of Rights. United Nations General Assembly: Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Joel Feinberg: The Nature and Value of Rights. 10. MORAL DUTIES. Samuel Pufendorf: Duties to God, Self, and Others. Immanuel Kant: from The Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals. Eric Watkins: Kants Categorical Imperative. W.D. Ross: from The Right and the Good. Martin Curd: Rosss Intuitionist Theory of Duty. 11. HEDONISM AND UTILITARIANISM. Epicurus: Letter to Menoeceus. Thomas More: Happiness and Pleasure. Francis Hutcheson: Computing the Greatest Happiness. Jeremy Bentham: The Principle of Utility. J.S. Mill: from Utilitarianism. John E. Hare: Morality and Consequences. William C. Davis: A Critical Look at Consequentialism. 12. FEMINIST ETHICS. Mary Wollstonecraft: Woman and Morality. Nel Noddings: Ethics from the Stand Point of Women. Michael Levin: Is There a Female Morality? PART THREE: APPLIED ETHICS. 13. SUICIDE. Augustine: Against Suicide. Thomas Aquinas: Whether It Is Lawful to Kill Oneself. David Hume: Of Suicide. Immanuel Kant: Suicide. 14. EUTHANASIA. Hippocrates: Hippocratic Oath. Thomas More: Voluntary Death. James Rachels: Active and Passive Euthanasia. Thomas D. Sullivan: Active and Passive Euthanasia: An Impertinent Distinction? James Rachels: More Impertinent Distinctions and a Defense of Active Euthanasia. 15. ABORTION. Thomas Aquinas: Fetuses and the Human Soul. Don Marquis: An Argument that Abortion is Wrong. Judith Jarvis Thomson: A Defense of Abortion. 16. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. Cesare Beccaria: The Death Penalty. J.S. Mill: Speech in Favor of Capital Punishment. Hugo Adam Bedau: from The Case Against the Death Penalty. Ernest van den Haag: The Ultimate Punishment. 17. ANIMAL ETHICS. Augustine: Killing Plants and Animals. Thomas Aquinas: Whether It Is Unlawful to Kill Any Living Thing. Rene Descartes: The Automatism of Animals. Immanual Kant: Duties Towards Animals. Tom Regan: The Case for Animal Rights. Tibor Machan: Do Animals Have Rights? 18. ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS. Augustine: Against the View that God Dwells in Plant Life. Henry David Thoreau: Primeval Nature. Aldo Leopold: The Land Ethic. James Fieser: An Argument Against Normative Ecocentrism. Suggestions for Further Reading. NOTES. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.