HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY READINGS
IN METAETHICS, NORMATIVE ETHICS, AND APPLIED ETHICS
edited by
James Fieser
(Wadsworth Publishing, to appear 2001)
* * * *
CONTENTS
PREFACE
PART 1: METAETHICS
1. Moral Relativism
Plato, "Protagoras: Humans are the Measure of all Things" Theaetetus
166d-167c. (4th Cn. BCE)
David Hume, "A Dialogue" (1751)
James Rachels, "The Challenge of Cultural Relativism" (1986)
2. Moral Realism vs. Moral Skepticism
Plato, "Moral Forms," from The Republic, Bk. 6, 504d-510b (4th
Cn. BCE)
J.L. Mackie, "Moral Skepticism" from Ethics: Inventing Right and
Wrong (1977)
3. God and Morality
Thomas Aquinas, from "The Treatise on Law" (c.1270)
Philip L. Quinn, "The Primacy of God’s Will in Theistic Ethics" (1992)
Kai Nielsen, "God and the Basis of Morality" (1982)
4. Egoism vs. Altruism
Thomas Hobbes, "The Selfish Origins of Pity and Charity"
Joseph Butler, "Instinctive Benevolence," from sermons 1 of Fifteen
Sermons (1726)
Joel Feinberg, "Psychological Egoism" (1965)
5. Reason vs. Emotion
Samuel Clarke "Moral Relations" (1706)
David Hume, "Moral Distinctions not Derived from Reason," from A
Treatise of Human Nature, and An Enquiry Concerning Principles
of Morals (1740, 1751)
Kurt Baier, "The Best Thing to Do," from The Moral Point of View
(1958)
6. Emotivism and Prescriptivism
A.J. Ayer, Language, Truth, and Logic
C.L. Stevenson, "Emotivism" from Ethics and Language (1944)
R.M. Hare, "Prescriptive and Descriptive Meaning of Ethical Terms,"
from The Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy and Philosophers
(1989)
PART 2: NORMATIVE ETHICS
1. Virtue Theory
Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics (Book 2)
J.B. Schneewind, "The Misfortunes of Virtue" (1990)
Greg Pence, "Virtue Theory" (1991)
Robert B. Louden, "On Some Vices of Virtue Ethics" (1984)
2. Social Contract Theory
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Chapters 13-15 (1651)
Mark Murphy, "Hobbes’s Social Contract Theory" (commissioned)
John Rawls, from A Theory of Justice (1971)
Robert Nozick, "On Rawls’s Theory," from Anarchy, State, and Utopia
(1974)
3. Moral Duties
Samuel Pufendorf, "Duties to God, Self, and Others" from De Jure
Naturae et Gentium (1673)
Immanuel Kant, from The Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals,
Chapter 2 (1785)
Eric Watkins, "Kant’s Categorical Imperative" (commissioned).
W.D. Ross, from The Right and the Good (1930)
Martin Curd, "Ross’s Theory of Intuitive Duty" (commissioned)
4. Moral Rights
John Locke, "Natural Rights" from Second Treatise of Civil Government
(1690)
William Paley, "The Division of Rights" from The Principles of Moral
and Political Philosophy (1785)
United Nations General Assembly, "Universal Declaration of Human Rights"
(1948)
Joel Feinberg, "The Nature and Value of Rights" (1979)
5. Hedonism and Consequentialism
Epicurus, "Letter to Menoeceus"
Thomas More, "Happiness and Pleasrue," from Utopia (1516)
Francis Hutcheson, "Computing the Greatest Happiness," from Inquiry
Concerning Moral Good and Evil (1725)
Jeremy Bentham, "The Principle of Utility," from Principles of Morals
and Legislation (1789)
J.S. Mill, from Utilitarianism (1863)
John E. Hare, "Morality and Consequences" (newly revised)
William C. Davis, "A Critical Look at Hare’s Consequentialism" (commissioned)
6. Feminist Ethics
Mary Wollstonecraft, "Women and Morality" from A Vindication Of
The Rights Of Woman (1792)
Nel Noddings, "Ethics from the Stand Point Of Women"
Michael Levin, "Is There a Female Morality?" (unpublished)
PART 3: APPLIED ETHICS
1. Abortion
Don Marquis, "Why Abortion is Immoral" (1989)
Judith Jarvis Thomson, "A Defense of Abortion" (1971)
2. Suicide
Thomas Aquinas, "Whether it is Lawful to Kill Oneself" (c.1270)
David Hume, "Of Suicide" (c.1757)
Immanuel Kant "Suicide" (c.1780)
3. Euthanasia
Hippocrates, "Hippocratic Oath" (c. 400 BCE)
James Rachels, "Active and Passive Euthanasia" (1975)
Thomas D. Sullivan, "Active and Passive Euthanasia: An Impertinent
Distinction?" (1977)
4. Homosexuality
Plato, "Aristophanes’ Speech on the Sexes" (4th Cn. BCE)
Jeff Jordan, "The Limits of Gay Rights" (commissioned)
Michael Ruse, "The Morality of Homosexuality," (1982)
5. Affirmative Action
Lyndon B. Johnson, "Equal Employment Opportunity" (1965)
Bill Shaw, "Affirmative Action: an Ethical Evaluation" (Journal
of Business Ethics, 1988)
Louis Pojman, "The Moral Status of Affirmative Action" (Public Affairs
Quarterly, 1992)
6. Capital Punishment
Cesare Beccaria, "The Death Penalty" in On Crimes and Punishments
(1764)
J.S. Mill, "Speech in Favor of Capital Punishment" (1868)
Hugo Adam Bedau, from The Case Against The Death Penalty (1997)
Ernest van den Haag, "The Ultimate Punishment" (1986)
7. Animal Ethics
Thomas Aquinas, "Whether it is Unlawful to Kill any Living Thing"
(c.1270)
Rene Descartes, "The Automatism of Animals"from Letter to Henry
More (c.1648)
Immanual Kant, "Duties Towards Animals" (c.1780)
Tom Regan, "The Case for Animal Rights" (1985)
Tibor Machan, "Do Animals have Rights?" (1991)
8. Ecocentrism
Henry David Thoreau, "Primeval Nature" from Maine Woods (1864)
Aldo Leopold, "The Land Ethic," from A Sand County Almanac (1949)
James Fieser, "An Argument Against Normative Ecocentrism" (newly revised
and expanded from Journal of Applied Philosophy, 1992).
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHE READING
NOTES