Being Good A Short Introduction to Ethics

Eminent philosopher Blackburn tackles the basics of ethics in this eloquent, engaging companion to his bestselling "Think." 12 halftones.

It is not only in our dark hours that scepticism, relativism, hypocrisy, and nihilism dog ethics. Whether it is a matter of giving to charity, or sticking to duty, or insisting on our rights, we can be confused, or be paralysed by the fear that our principles are groundless. Many are afraid that in a Godless world science has unmasked us as creatures fated by our genes to be selfish and tribalistic, or competitive and aggressive. Simon Blackburn, author of the best-selling Think, structures this short introduction around these and other threats to ethics. Confronting seven different objections to our self-image as moral, well-behaved creatures, he charts a course through the philosophical quicksands that often engulf us. Then, turning to problems of life and death, he shows how we should think about the meaning of life, and how we should mistrust the sound-bite sized absolutes that often dominate moral debates. Finally he offers a critical tour of the ways the philosophical tradition has tried to provide foundations for ethics, from Plato and Aristotle through to contemporary debates.

1 - The Threat of the Death of God
2 - The Threat of Relativism
3 - The Threat of Egoism
4 - The Threat from Evolutionary Theory
5 - The Threat of Determinism and Futility
6 - The Threat of Unreasonable Demands
7 - The Threat of False Consciousness
8 - Birth
9 - Death
10 - Desire and the Meaning of Life
11 - Pleasure
12 - The Greatest Happiness of the Greatest Number
13 - Freedom from the Bad
14 - Freedom and Paternalism
15 - Rights and Natural Rights
16 - Reasons and Foundations
17 - Living Well and Doing Good
18 - The Categorical Imperative
19 - Contracts and Discourse
20 - The Common Point of View
21 - Confidence Restored

Simon Blackburn is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. Until recently he was Edna J. Koury Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, and from 1969 to 1990 a Fellow and Tutor at Pembroke College, Oxford. His books include Spreading the Word (1984), Essays in Quasi-Realism (1993), The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (1994), Ruling Passions (1998), Truth (co-edited with Keith Simmons, 1999), and the best-selling Think (1999). He edited the journal Mind from 1984 to 1990.