Overview

How do you decide what is ethically wrong and right? Few people make moral judgments by taking the theory first. Specifically written with the interests, needs, and experience of students in mind, this textbook approaches thinking ethically as you do in real life – by first encountering practical moral problems and then introducing theory to understand and integrate the issues. Built around engaging case studies from news media, court hearings, famous speeches and philosophical writings, each of the 15 chapters: - explains and defines the moral problem dealt with - provides excerpts of readings on all sides of the issue - analyses the problem, using the relevant theory The examples are recognizable ethical problems, including judgments about racism and sexism, controversial debates such as assisted suicide and the death penalty, and contemporary concerns like privacy and technology, corporate responsibility, and the environment. The mission of the book is to assist you to engage in informed, independent, critical thinking and to enable you to enter into ethical discussions in the classroom and beyond. Supported by learning features, including study questions, key quotes, handy definitions and a companion website, this book is essential for any student of moral philosophy.

Full Product Details

Author:   Professor Robert L. Holmes (University of Rochester, USA)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Academic
Edition:   HPOD
Weight:   0.948kg
ISBN:  

9781350029804

ISBN 10:   1350029807
Pages:   546
Publication Date:   22 February 2018
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Introduction I RACE, GENDER AND ETHNICITY Chapter 1. RACISM 1.1 Basic Questions about Racism 1.2 What is Racism? 1.3 What is a Racist? 1.4 A Racist Philosophy 1.5 The Racist's Burden of Proof 1.6 Is there such a Thing as Race ? 1.7 Are Some Races Superior to Others? 1.8 Ought Innately Superior Races to dominate Inferior Races ? 1.9 Race, Rights and Utility 1.10 Racism and Universalizability 1.11 Conclusion Chapter 2. SEXISM 2.1 Basic Questions about Sexism 2.2 What is Sexism? 2.3 What is a Sexist? 2.4 The Sexist's Burden of Proof 2.5 Is One Sex Innately Superior to the Other? 2.6 Ought One Sex to Dominate the Other? 2.7 Conclusion Chapter 3. HISPANIC/LATINO ISSUES 3.1 Hispanics in America 3.2 Are Hispanics a Race or an Ethnic Group? 3.3 Naming 3.4 What Terms to Use and Who Should Decide? 3.5 Can Hispanic Be Defined? 3.6 Anti-Hispanic Discrimination 3.7 Hispanics, School Segregation, and Distributive Justice 3.9 Conclusion Chapter 4. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND DIVERSITY 4.1 What is Affirmative Action? 4.2 The Evolution of Affirmative Action 4.3 Diversity to the Forefront 4.4 Affirmative Action and the University of Michigan 4.5 A Definition of Affirmative Action. 4.6 The Moral Issue. 4.7 Reparations? 4.8 Affirmative Action Distinguished from Reparations 4.9 Justice for Groups or for Individuals? 4.10 Is Affirmative Action Fair? 4.11 Diversity or Compensation for Past Injustice? 4.12 Conclusion Chapter Five. SEXUAL HARASSMENT 5.1 What is Sexual Harassment? 5.2 The Potential for Misunderstanding 5.3 Sexual Harassment and Sex Discrimination 5.4 Is Sexual Harassment the Same as Sex Discrimination? 5.5 Sexual Harassment and Sexism 5.6 Sexual Harassment, Sexual Misconduct and Gender Harassment 5.7 Sexual Harassment and Privacy 5.8 Sexual Harassment and the University 5.9 Conclusion II PROFIT AND THE PLIGHT OF OTHERS Chapter 6. CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY 6.1 The Problem 6.2 What are Corporations? 6.3 Liberal and Conservative Positions on Corporate Social Responsibility 6.4 What is the Basic Obligation of Corporations? 6.5 Possible Objections to Corporate Responsibility 6.6 What Social Responsibilities? 6.7 Non-maleficence 6.8 Corporations and Distributive Justice 6.9 Corporations and the Making of Moral judgments 6.10 Conclusion Chapter 7. POVERTY AND WORLD HUNGER 7.1 What is Poverty? 7.2 Is Poverty Always Bad? Voluntary and Involuntary Poverty 7.3 How Serious a Problem is Poverty? 7.4 Are We Obligated Individually to Fight Poverty? 7.5. Are We Obligated Collectively to Fight Poverty? 7.6 Are Efforts to Fight Poverty Futile Under Present Socio-economic Conditions? 7.7 Conclusion Chapter 8. CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM 8.1 What are Capitalism and Socialism? 8.2 Freedom, Liberty and Rights 8.3 Natural Rights 8.4 Anarchism, Libertarianism, Conservatism and Liberalism 8.5 Liberty and Equality 8.6 Marxism 8.7 Historical Materialism 8.8 Surplus Value 8.9 A Capitalist Conception of Distributive Justice 8.10 Are There Contradictions within Capitalism? 8.11 Conclusion III ANIMALS AND THE ENVIRONMENT Chapter 9. CARING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT 9.1 Why Care for the Environment? 9.2 Basic and Derivative Moral Considerations 9.3 Who or What Warrants Basic Moral Consideration? 9.4 Anthropocentrism 9.5 Sentientism 9.6 Biocentrism 9.7 Does Nature as a Whole Warrant Basic Moral Consideration? 9.8 An Argument for Giving Nature Basic Moral Consideration 9.9 An Anthropocentric Objection 9.10 Intended and Foreseeable Consequences of Environmental Impacts 9.11 Conclusion Chapter 10. MORAL CONSIDERATION FOR ANIMALS 10.1 Kinds of Moral Consideration 10.2 Speciesism 10.3 Animals and Discrimination 10.4 Ought Humans to Dominate Animals? 10.5 Are Humans Naturally Superior to Animals? 10.6 What Extrinsic Value Does Human Intelligence Have? 10.7 Superiority and Dominance 10.8 Conclusion IV AUTONOMY AND THE INDIVIDUAL Chapter 11. PRIVACY 11.1 Why is Privacy Important? 11.2 Philosophical and Legal Foundations of Privacy 11.3 The Definition of Privacy 11.4 Personal Autonomy 11.5 The Paradox of Privacy 11.6 Setting Boundaries 11.7 The Prima Facie Right to Privacy 11.8 Violating Privacy for Political, Social or Personal Ends 11.9 Privacy and Conflicting Values 11.10 Privacy and Technology 11.11 Conclusion Chapter 12. ABORTION 12.1 Is There Neutral Language With Which to Discuss Abortion? 12.2 What is It That is Aborted? 12.3 A Medical Perspective 12.4 Whose Interests Warrant Moral Consideration in the Abortion Issue? 12.5 Roe v. Wade (1973) 12.6 A Woman's Right to Choose. 12.7 Do Men Have Rights in the Abortion Issue? 12.8 Do the Unborn Have Rights? 12.9 Human Beings and Persons 12.10 Abortion and the Killing of the Innocent 12.11 What Precisely is Abortion? 12.12 Hare's Golden Rule Argument 12.13 Toward a New Perspective on Abortion 12.14 The Basic Issue of Unwanted Pregnancy 12.15 Conclusion Chapter 13. PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE 13.1 Suicide 13.2 Is There a Right to Die? 13.3 Active and Passive Euthanasia 13.4 The Quinlan, Cruzan and Schiavo Cases 13.5 Consciousness, Coma and Persistent Vegetative States 13.6 Killing and Letting Die 13.7 Is There a Moral Difference Between Killing and Letting Die? 13.8 Is There a Slippery Slope from Suicide to Assisted Suicide to Euthanasia? 13.9 The Case for a Logically Slippery Slope 13.10 Conclusion V THE NONCONSENSUAL TAKING OF HUMAN LIFE Chapter 14. THE DEATH PENALTY 14.1 The Death Penalty in America 14.2 What is Punishment? 14.3 Deterrence and Retribution 14.4 What is Retributivism? 14.5 Objection to the Retributivist Justification of the Death Penalty 14.6 Is the Death Penalty a Deterrent? 14.7 Conclusion Chapter 15. TERRORISM AND WAR 15.1 The Problem 15.2 What is Terrorism? 15.3 The Rationalization of Terrorism 15.4 Who Are Terrorists? 15.5 How Some Terrorists View Themselves 15.6 Terrorism and the Killing of Innocents 15.7 What is War? 15.8 Can War Be Morally Justified? 15.9 The Just War Theory 15.10 War and the Killing of Innocents 15.11 War and the Killing of Soldiers 15.12 Are Soldiers Morally Expendable? 15.13 Is There an Absolute Right to Kill in Self-Defense? 15.14 The Paradox of the Moral Expendability of Soldiers 15.15 Pacifism 15.16 Conclusion

Reviews

Written with an exemplary clarity and an astonishing erudition, this textbook will most likely become a standard against other texts in applied ethics must be measured for decades to come. -- Predrag Cicovacki, Professor of Philosophy, College of the Holy Cross, USA

Written with exemplary clarity and astonishing erudition, this textbook will most likely become a standard against which other texts in applied ethics must be measured for decades to come. -- Predrag Cicovacki, Professor of Philosophy, College of the Holy Cross, USA This is an excellent introduction to applied ethics: it is concise, rigorous and interestingly written. -- James Connelly, Professor of Political Theory, University of Hull

Written with exemplary clarity and astonishing erudition, this textbook will become a standard against which other texts in applied ethics must be measured for decades to come. -- Predrag Cicovacki, Professor of Philosophy, College of the Holy Cross, USA This is an excellent introduction to applied ethics: it is concise, rigorous and interestingly written. -- James Connelly, Professor of Political Theory, University of Hull

Author Information

Robert L. Holmes is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Rochester, USA. His main research is in philosophy of war, the ethics of nonviolence, and contemporary moral problems. He is the author of Pacifism (2016) Basic Moral Philosophy (2006) and On War and Morality (1989), co-author of Philosophical Inquiry (1968), and co-editor of Nonviolence in Theory and Practice (1990).

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions