The Ethical Life

Description

Brief yet thorough and affordably priced, The Ethical Life: Fundamental Readings in Ethics and Moral Problems, Fifth Edition, is ideal for courses in introductory ethics and contemporary moral problems. Featuring forty-two readings divided into four parts, it introduces students to ethical theory and a wide range of moral issues. The essays include selections from such historically influential philosophers as Aristotle, Hume, Kant, and Mill alongside work by contemporary philosophers like Philippa Foot, Robert Nozick, Peter Singer, and Judith Jarvis Thomson. Detailed reading introductions provide helpful contextual information.

New to this Edition

• Article on moral knowledge commissioned just for TEL and written by Sarah McGrath, an expert on issues of moral knowledge.
• Article by Mary Midgley on cultural relativism
• Part IV now includes a new section on Immigration, with contrasting papers by Christopher Heath Wellman, who argues for the right of legitimate states to close their borders in various ways, and Michael Huemer, who argues for an open borders policy for refugees and non-refugees alike.
• Also new to Part IV: contributions by John Broome on climate change, Douglas Husak on the illegitimacy of drug laws, Onora O'Neill on Kantian approaches to famine relief, Peter Carruthers on the moral status of animals, and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham City Jail.

Table of Contents

Contents
Preface
A Note on the Companion Volume
Introduction

PART I The Good Life
1. John Stuart Mill Hedonism
2. Robert Nozick The Experience Machine
3. Chris Heathwood Faring Well and Getting What You Want
4. Brad Hooker The Elements of Well-Being
5. Susan Wolf Happiness and Meaning: Two Aspects of the Good Life

PART II Normative Ethics Theories of Right Conduct
6. Plato Euthyphro
7. Thomas Aquinas Natural Law
8. John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism
9. Immanuel Kant The Good Will and the Categorical Imperative
10. Thomas Hobbes Leviathan
11. W. D. Ross What Makes Right Acts Right?
12. Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics
13. Hilde Lindemann What Is Feminist Ethics?

PART III Metaethics The Status of Morality
14. David Hume Moral Distinctions not Derived from Reason
15. J. L. Mackie The Subjectivity of Values
16. Gilbert Harman Ethics and Observation
17. Mary Midgley Trying Out One's New Sword*
18. David Enoch Why I am an Objectivist about Ethics (and Why You Are, Too)
19. Sarah McGrath Moral Knowledge*

PART IV Moral Problems
20. Kwame Anthony Appiah What Will Future Generations Condemn Us For?
POVERTY AND HUNGER
21. Peter Singer The Singer Solution to World Poverty
22. Onora O'Neill A Kantian Approach to Famine Relief*

EUTHANASIA AND A MODEST PROPOSAL
23 James Rachels The Morality of Euthanasia
24. John Harris The Survival Lottery

IMMIGRATION
25. Christopher Heath Wellman Refugees and the Right to Control Immigration*
26. Michael Huemer Is There a Right to Immigrate?*

ANIMALS
27. Peter Carruthers Against the Moral Standing of Animals*
28. Alastair Norcross Puppies, Pigs and People: Eating Meat and Marginal Cases

THE ENVIRONMENT
29. John Broome The Public and Private Morality of Climate Change*
30. Thomas Hill, Jr. Ideals of Human Excellence and Preserving Natural Environments

ABORTION
31. Judith Jarvis Thomson A Defense of Abortion
32. Don Marquis Why Abortion is Immoral
33. Philippa Foot Abortion and the Doctrine of Double Effect

THE DEATH PENALTY
34. Igor Primoratz Justifying Legal Punishment
35. Stephen Nathanson An Eye for an Eye?

GUNS
36. Jeff McMahan Why Gun 'Control' Is Not Enough
37. Michael Huemer Is There a Right to Own a Gun?

THE LEGACY OF RACISM
38. Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from Birmingham City Jail*
39. Daniel Hausman Affirmative Action: Bad Arguments and Some Good Ones
40. Elizabeth Anderson The Future of Racial Integration

DRUGS
41. Douglas Husak In Favor of Drug Decriminalization*
42. Peter de Marneffe Against the Legalization of Drugs