| Description |
x, 415 pages ; 22 cm |
| Series |
Oxford readers |
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Oxford readers.
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| Contents |
Part 1. The nature of ethics: its origins, variations, and basis A. The long search for the origins of ethics Morality as the advantage of the stronger: a debate between Socrates and Thrasymachus / Plato -- Moral virtue, how produced / Aristotle -- Are humans good by nature? A debate between Chinese sages / Mencius -- Of the natural condition of mankind and the laws of nature / Thomas Hobbes -- The natural state of man / Jean-Jacques Rousseau -- Affection of humanity: the foundation of morals / David Hume -- The noble descent of duty / Immanuel Kant -- The material basis of morality / Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels -- The origin of the moral sense / Charles Darwin -- The origins of herd morality / Friedrich Nietzsche -- The cultural super-ego / Sigmund Freud -- In a different voice / Carol Gilligan -- |
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B. Common themes in primate ethics i. Kinship Helping kin in chimpanzees / Jane Goodall -- A universal duty / Edward Westermarck -- The genetic basis of kinship / David Barash -- ii. Reciprocity Chimpanzee justice / Frans de Waal -- Live and let live / Tony Ashworth -- Reciprocal gift-giving among the !Kung / Lorna Marshall -- The Kula ring / Bruno Malinowski -- A single word / Confucius -- The law of Hammurabi -- Turn the other cheek / Jesus -- The whole Torah, while standing on one foot / Hillel -- The evolution of reciprocal altruism / Robert Trivers -- Tit for tat / Robert Axelrod -- iii. Sexual morality Incest avoidance among Chimpanzees / Jane Goodall -- The horror of incest / Edward Westermarck -- The social rules of chimapanzee sex / Frans de Waal -- Adultery among the !Kung / Lorna Marshall -- The Bible. Incest and adultery -- A commentary on the sixth commandment / Martin Luther -- The double standard / Donald Symons -- |
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B. Deciding what is right i. Natural law, natural rights a Theory Ofd the natural law / Thomas Aquinas -- Our rights in the state of nature / John Locke -- Declaration on euthanasia / The Vatican -- Absolute human rights / John Finnis -- The rationality of side constraints / Robert Nozick -- Moral aspects of sterility tests / Gerald Kelly -- b. Criticism Provincial letters / Blaise Pascal -- Natural rights / Jeremy Bentham -- On nature / John Stuart Mill -- ii. Kant's Ethics of duty a. The theory The categorical imperative / Immanuel Kant -- On a supposed right to lie from altruistic motives / Immanuel Kant -- b. Criticism Maria von Herbert's challenge to Kant / Rae Langton -- The conscience of Huckleberry Finn / Jonathan Bennett -- iii. Consequentialism a. Theory The principle of utility / Jeremy Bentham -- The archbishop and the chambermaid / William Godwin -- Issues for utiliarians / Henry Sidgwick -- Desert island promises / J.J.C. Smart -- The structure of ethics and morals / R.M. Hare -- b. Criticism Ivan's challenge / Fyodor Dostoevsky -- The personal character of duty / W.D. Ross -- The separatenessof persons / John Rawls -- Jim and the Indians / Bernard Williams -- Moral Saints / Susan Wolf -- iv. Contract ethics a The theory The main idea of the theory of justice / John Rawls -- Why contractarianism? / David Gauthier -- b. Criticism Duties concerning islands / Mary Midgley -- Epilogue How both human history and the history of ethics may be just beginning / Derek Parfit |
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C. The role of reason Reason and passion / David Hume -- Pure practical reason and the moral law / Immanuel Kant -- Adding ethical substance to Kant's empty formalism / G.W.F. Hegel -- The axioms of ethics / Henry Sidgwick -- Society the school, custom the headmaster / Edward Westermarck -- A lecture on ethics / Ludwig Wittgenstein -- Ethics for logical positivists / A.J. Ayer -- Condemned to be free / Jean-Paul Sartre -- The objective basis of morality / Thomas Nagel -- The argument from queerness / J.L. Mackie -- Evolution and the basis of morality / Colin McGinn -- Reason, gender, and moral theory / Virginia Held -- Realism / Michael Smith -- |
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Part 2. The content of ethics: judging good outcomes and right acts A. Ultimate good The ceasing of woe / The Buddha -- The end of human nature / Aristotle -- The pursuit of pleasure / Epicurus -- A stoic view of life / Epictetus -- The sermon on the mount / Jesus -- The saints of the desert / W.E.H. Lecky -- Story of a good Brahmin / Voltaire -- Push-pin and poetry / Jeremy Bentham -- Higher and lower pleasures / John Stuart Mill -- Good as the satisfaction of demands / William James -- Desirable consciousness / Henry Sidgwick -- Beauty and friendship / G.E. Moore -- Truth and Ahimsa / M.K. Gandhi -- The right to be unhappy / Aldous Huxley -- The myth of Sisyphus / Albert Camus -- The experience machine Robert Nozick -- The basic values / John Finnis -- What makes someone's life go best? / Derek Parfit -- |
| Summary |
Publishers description: What is ethics? Where does it come from? Can we really hope to find any rational way of deciding how we ought to live? If we can, what would it be like, and how are we going to know when we have found it? An anthology on fundamental moral ideas. The author draws on anthropology, history, game theory, and works of fiction, in addition to moral philosophy |
| Analysis |
Ethics |
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Overseas item |
| Notes |
Includes index |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [393]-396) and index |
| Subject |
Ethics -- History.
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Ethics.
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Ethics.
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| Author |
Singer, Peter, editor
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| LC no. |
93029249 |
| ISBN |
0192892452 (paperback) |
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