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Read more about Introduction to Philosophy: Ethics

Introduction to Philosophy: Ethics

(4 reviews)

George Matthews

Christina Hendricks

Copyright Year: 2019

ISBN 13: 9781989014080

Publisher: Rebus Community

Language: English

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Attribution Attribution
CC BY

Reviews

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Reviewed by Kevin DeCoux, Philosophy, Minnesota West Community & Technical College on 4/4/23

Most of the ethical theories that you would want for an intro to ethical theory course are here. Relativism and subjectivism, divine command theory and natural law theory, virtue ethics, social contract theory and egoism, utilitarianism, Kant,... read more

Reviewed by Erin Anchustegui, Assistant Professor, College of Western Idaho on 5/4/22

This book contains the key topics in the appropriate depth suitable for a lower-level introduction to ethics course. The coverage of subjectivism, relativism, and divine command theory provide the necessary early discussions which lay the... read more

Reviewed by Roann Barris, Professor, art history and ethics, Radford University on 1/13/20

it covers the major theories of ethical reasoning but does not discuss some variants of the major theories and relies on definitions and examples which are often either chosen for their simplicity, ordinariness or laughable quality -- I found it... read more

Reviewed by Matthew Goldstein, Instructor (tenured), Peralta Community College District on 12/27/19

The textbook offers an effective survey of meta-ethical theory, and it presents remarkably clear summaries of the major ideas of many of the thinkers whose work has contributed to the development of moral philosophy. While each chapter includes... read more

Table of Contents

  • 1. Aren’t Right and Wrong Just Matters of Opinion? On Moral Relativism and Subjectivism
  • 2. Can We Have Ethics without Religion? On Divine Command Theory and Natural Law Theory
  • 3. How Can I Be a Better Person? On Virtue Ethics
  • 4. What’s in it for Me? On Egoism and Social Contract Theory
  • 5. Utilitarianism
  • 6. Kantian Deontology
  • 7. Feminism and Feminist Ethics
  • 8. Evolutionary Ethics

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About the Book

We often make judgments about good and bad, right and wrong. Philosophical ethics is the critical examination of these and other concepts central to how we evaluate our own and each others’ behavior and choices.

This text examines some of the main threads of discussion on these topics that have developed over the last couple of millenia, mostly within the Western cultural tradition. It considers basic questions about moral and ethical judgment: Is there such a thing as something that is really right or really wrong independent of time, place and perspective? What is the relationship between religion and ethics? How can we reconcile self-interest and ethics? Is it ever acceptable to harm one person in order to help others? What do recent discussions in evolutionary biology or have to say about human moral systems? What is the relation between gender and ethics? The authors invite you to participate in their exploration of these and many other questions in philosophical ethics.

About the Contributors

Authors

George Matthews (book editor) studied philosophy at Pratt Institute, where he also earned a BFA in Sculpture, at Hunter College, Loyola University of Chicago, and The Pennsylvania State University, where he earned his Doctorate in Philosophy for work on German Idealism. He currently teaches philosophy in person at Plymouth State University and online at Pennsylvania College of Technology. His research and teaching interests are in ethics, social and political philosophy, environmental philosophy, philosophy of mind and the philosophical and psychological study of rationality and irrationality. He remains a life-long student, having recently become a formal student in the Mountains and Rivers Order in the Soto lineage of Zen Buddhism. His extra-philosophical pursuits also include gardening, cooking, and wandering and climbing in the mountains.

Christina Hendricks (series editor) is a Professor of Teaching in Philosophy at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, Canada, where she often teaches Introduction to Philosophy courses. She is also the and also the Academic Director of the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (2018-2023). Christina has been an open education researcher and advocate for a number of years, having been a BCcampus Open Textbook Fellow, an OER Research Fellow with the Open Education Group, the Creative Commons Canada representative to the CC Global Network, and a member of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Legal Information Institute.

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