The Moral Life

An Introductory Reader in Ethics and Literature

Seventh Edition

Lewis Vaughn and Louis P. Pojman

Philosophical essays paired with literary works clarify concepts, draw students into topics, and bring ethical dilemmas and principles to life
A balance of both classic and contemporary readings in ethics gives students a broad view of the application and relevance of ethics
An appendix on how to read and write a philosophy paper provides advice for instructors who want to include writing assignments in their courses

New to this Edition:

6 new chapters: Sexism and Misogyny, Racism, Equity, and Privilege, Free Speech and Hate Speech, Pandemic Ethics, Food Ethics, The Ethics of Climate Change
17 new readings, many of them newer voices or the most authoritative on a particular topic
8 new readings by women writers- including pieces by Ann E. Cudd, Leslie Jones, Kate Mann, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Naomi Zack, Shannon Sullivan, Sigal R. Ben-Porath, and Colleen Walsh, Beatriz Thomé, and Cathy Zhang - bringing the total in the text to 19
A revised chapter 9 "Does Life Have Meaning?" with a new piece by John Messerly, commissioned for this volume
A revised introduction to the Stoic philosophers (Chapter 6)
New fiction: The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Moral Life

An Introductory Reader in Ethics and Literature

Seventh Edition

Lewis Vaughn and Louis P. Pojman

Description

Ideal for introductory ethics courses, The Moral Life: An Introductory Reader in Ethics and Literature brings together a comprehensive collection of classical and contemporary readings on ethical theory and contemporary moral issues. The first two-thirds of the book comprises readings on historical and contemporary ethical theory; the final third is devoted to readings on a variety of contemporary moral issues. Integrating literature with philosophy in an innovative way, this anthology leverages literary works to enliven and make concrete the ethical theories and applied issues it covers.

The Moral Life

An Introductory Reader in Ethics and Literature

Seventh Edition

Lewis Vaughn and Louis P. Pojman

Preface
Introduction
Part I: The Nature of Morality: Good and Evil
1. What is the Purpose of Morality?
William Golding, Lord of the Flies: A Moral Allegory
Louis P. Pojman, On the Nature and Purpose of Morality: Reflections on William Golding's Lord of the Flies
Thomas Hobbes, On the State of Nature
2. Good and Evil
Herman Melville, Billy Budd
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Why Is There Evil?
William Styron, Sophie's Choice
Philip Hallie, From Cruelty to Goodness
Philippa Foot, Natural Goodness
Richard Taylor, On the Origin of Good and Evil
3. Is Everything Relative?
Herodotus, Custom Is King
Ruth Benedict, The Case for Moral Relativism
David Enoch, Why I Am an Objectivist about Ethics (And Why You Are, Too)
James Rachels, Why Morality Is Not Relative
Jean Bethke Elshtain, Judge Not?
Mary Midgley, Trying Out One's New Sword
Henrick Ibsen, The Enemy of the People
Part II: Moral Theories and Moral Character
4. Utilitarianism
Seaman Holmes and the Longboat of William Brown, Reported by John William Wallace
Jeremy Bentham, Classical Utilitarianism
John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism Refined
Kai Nielsen, A Defense of Utilitarianism
Bernard Williams, Against Utilitarianism
Ursula Le Guin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
5. Deontological Ethics
Immanuel Kant, The Moral Law
William K. Frankena, Kant's Theory
W. D. Ross, Intuitionism
Ambrose Bierce, A Horseman in the Sky
Charles Fried, The Evil of Lying
Plato, Does Morality Depend on Religion?
James Rachels, The Divine Command Theory
Thomas Nagel, Moral Luck
Carl Dennis, New Year's Eve
6. Virtue Ethics
Aristotle, Virtue Ethics
Alasdair MacIntyre, The Virtues
Susan Wolf, Moral Saints
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Great Stone Face
William K. Frankena, A Critique of Virtue-Based Ethical Systems
Jesus of Nazareth, The Sermon on the Mount; The Good Samaritan
Leo Tolstoy, How Much Land Does a Man Need? Greed
Epictetus and Others, The Stoic Catechism
Vice Admiral James Stockdale, The World of Epictetus: Courage and Endurance
7. Feminist Ethics and the Ethics of Care
Alison M. Jaggar, Feminist Ethics
Jan Crosthwaite, Gender and Bioethics
Annette C. Baier, The Need for More than Justice
Virginia Held, The Ethics of Care
Part III Moral Issues
8. Ethics and Egoism: Why Should We Be Moral?
Plato, The Ring of Gyges
Ayn Rand, In Defense of Ethical Egoism
Louis P. Pojman, Egoism and Altruism: A Critique of Ayn Rand
James Rachels, A Critique of Ethical Egoism
9. Does Life Have Meaning?
Voltaire, The Good Brahmin
Epicurus, Hedonism
Albert Camus, Life Is Absurd
Viktor Frankl, The Human Search for Meaning: Reflections on Auschwitz
* John Messerly, The Ascent of Meaning
Bertrand Russell, Reflections on Suffering
Richard Taylor, The Meaning of Life
Part IV: Applied Ethics: Moral Problems
10. Sexism and Misogyny
Ann E. Cudd and Leslie Jones, Sexism
Kate Manne with Sean Illing, What We Get Wrong about Misogyny
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper
11. Racism, Equity, and Privilege
Lawrence Blum, Racism: What It Is and Isn't
Naomi Zack, Uses and Abuses of the Discourse of White Privilege
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Racism Without Racists
Shannon Sullivan, Good White Liberals
12. Free Speech and Hate Speech
Sigal Ben-Porath, Free Speech on Campus
Richard Stengel and Conor Friedersdorf, Two Views of Speech Laws
Erwin Chemerinsky and Howard Gillman, Hate Speech
13. Pandemic Ehics
Michael Sandel with Colleen Walsh, Why Some Americans Refuse to Social Distance and Wear Masks
Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Govind Persad, Ross Upshur, Et Al., Fair Allocation of Scarce Medical Resources in the Time of COVID-19
14. Food Ethics
George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant
Tristram McPherson, How to Argue for (and Against) Ethical Veganism
Joel Salatin, Animal Welfare
Alastair Norcross, Puppies, Pigs, and People: Eating Meat and Marginal Cases
15. The Ethics of Climate Change
Robert Heilbroner, What Has Prosperity Ever Done for Me?
Stephen M. Gardiner, A Perfect Moral Storm: Climate Change
John Broome, The Public and Private Morality of Climate Change

The Moral Life

An Introductory Reader in Ethics and Literature

Seventh Edition

Lewis Vaughn and Louis P. Pojman

Author Information

The late Louis P. Pojman was Professor of Philosophy at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He is the author or editor of more than thirty books including Classics of Philosophy, Third Edition (OUP, 2010).
Lewis Vaughn is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including Bioethics, Fourth Edition (2019), The Power of Critical Thinking, Sixth Edition, (2018), Philosophy Here and Now, Third Edition (2019), and Living Philosophy, Third Edition (2021), all published by Oxford University Press. He also publishes Doing Ethics, Fifth Edition (2018) with W.W. Norton.