The Ethical Life Fundamental Readings in Ethics and Moral Problems

Brief yet thorough and affordably priced, The Ethical Life: Fundamental Readings in Ethics and Moral Problems, Second Edition, is ideal for courses in introductory ethics and contemporary moral problems. Featuring forty readings divided into four parts—Value Theory, Normative Ethics, Metaethics, and Moral Problems—it introduces students to ethical theory and a wide range of moral issues. The essays include selections from such historically influential philosophers as Aristotle, Hume, Kant, and Mill alongside work by contemporary philosophers like Philippa Foot, Robert Nozick, Peter Singer, and Judith Jarvis Thomson. Detailed section and reading introductions provide helpful contextual information. The second edition adds nine new readings, by Plato, Ayn Rand, A.J. Ayer, Harry Gensler, Alan Dershowitz, Alastair Norcross, Paul Taylor, Thomas Hill, Jr., and Philippa Foot. It also features new subcategories in Part IV. Moral Problems: Euthanasia and a Modest Proposal; Terrorism and Torture; The Treatment of Non-Humans (Animals and the Environment); Abortion; The Limits of the Law; and Children and Parents. Designed as a companion reader to Russ Shafer-Landau's textbook, The Fundamentals of Ethics, Second Edition, The Ethical Life, Second Edition, is also comprehensive enough to be used on its own. The book is enhanced by an Instructor's Manual and Testbank on CD (thoroughly updated for the second edition) and a Companion Website at www.oup.com/us/shafer-landau.

*=New to this Edition; Preface: ; A Note on the Companion Volume: ; Help for Students and Instructors: ; INTRODUCTION; PART ONE. VALUE THEORY: THE NATURE OF THE GOOD LIFE; 1. Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus; 2. John Stuart Mill, Hedonism; 3. Aldous Huxley, Brave New World; 4. Robert Nozick, The Experience Machine; 5. Richard Taylor, The Meaning of Life; 6. Jean Kazez, Necessities; PART TWO. NORMATIVE ETHICS: THEORIES OF RIGHT CONDUCT; * 7. Plato, Euthyphro; 8. Philippa Foot, Natural Goodness; * 9. Ayn Rand, The Ethics of Emergencies; 10. J.J.C. Smart, Extreme and Restricted Utilitarianism; 11. Immanuel Kant, The Good Will and the Categorical Imperative; 12. Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan; 13. W.D. Ross, What Makes Right Acts Right?; 14. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics; 15. Hilde Lindemann, What Is Feminist Ethics?; PART THREE. METAETHICS: THE STATUS OF MORALITY; 16. David Hume, Moral Distinctions Not Derived from Reason; * 17. A.J. Ayer, A Critique of Ethics; 18. J.L. Mackie, The Subjectivity of Values; * 19. Harry Gensler, Cultural Relativism; 20. Michael Smith, Realism; 21. Renford Bambrough, Proof (new version); PART FOUR. MORAL PROBLEMS; 22. Peter Singer, The Singer Solution to World Poverty; 23. John Corvino, Why Shouldn't Tommy and Jimmy Have Sex? A Defense of Homosexuality; 24. Jonathan Bennett, The Conscience of Huckleberry Finn; Euthanasia and a Modest Proposal; 25. James Rachels, The Morality of Euthanasia; 26. John Harris, The Survival Lottery; Terrorism and Torture; 27. Michael Walzer, Terrorism: A Critique of Excuses; * 28. Alan Dershowitz, Should the Ticking Bomb Terrorist be Tortured?; The Treatment of Non-Humans: Animals and the Environment; * 29. Alastair Norcross, Puppies, Pigs and People; * 30. Paul Taylor, The Ethics of Respect for the Environment; * 31. Thomas Hill, Jr., Ideals of Human Excellence and Preserving Natural Environments; Abortion; 32. Judith Jarvis Thomson, A Defense of Abortion; 33. Don Marquis, Why Abortion Is Immoral; * 34. Philippa Foot, Abortion and the Doctrine of Double Effect; The Limits of the Law; 35. Igor Primoratz, Justifying Legal Punishment; 36. Stephen Nathanson, An Eye for an Eye?; 37. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham City Jail; 38. Michael Huemer, America's Unjust Drug War; Children and Parents; 39. Hugh LaFollette, Licensing Parents; 40. Jane English, What Do Grown Children Owe Their Parents?

Russ Shafer-Landau is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.