The Fundamentals of Ethics

In The Fundamentals of Ethics, Second Edition, author Russ Shafer-Landau employs a uniquely engaging writing style to introduce students to the essential ideas of moral philosophy. Offering more comprehensive coverage of the good life, normative ethics, and metaethics than any other text of its kind, this book also addresses issues that are often omitted from other texts, such as the doctrine of doing and allowing, the doctrine of double effect, ethical particularism, the desire-satisfaction theory of well-being, and moral error theory. Shafer-Landau carefully reconstructs and analyzes dozens of arguments in depth, at a level that is understandable to students with no prior philosophical background. NEW TO THE SECOND EDITION: * Discussion questions at the end of every chapter provide students with immediate ways to test their understanding of the material * New, real-life extended examples reinforce the importance of the theories discussed in Chapters 4, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15, and 19 * Greatly expanded coverage of moral rights (in Chapter 8) and of membership in the moral community (in Chapter 9) * A new discussion of skepticism about morality in the Introduction * An Instructor's Manual and Testbank on CD and a Companion Website at www.oup.com/us/shafer-landau Ideal for courses in introductory ethics and contemporary moral problems, this book can be used as a stand-alone text or with the author's companion reader, The Ethical Life: Fundamental Readings in Ethics and Moral Problems, Second Edition, which offers original readings on ethical theory and contemporary moral problems.

Preface: ; New to the Second Edition: ; Instructor's Manual and Companion Website: ; A Note on the Companion Volume: ; Acknowledgments: ; INTRODUCTION; The Lay of the Land; * Skepticism about Ethics; Ethical Starting Points; Moral Reasoning; The Role of Moral Theory; Looking Ahead; PART ONE. THE GOOD LIFE; 1. Hedonism: Its Powerful Appeal; Happiness and Intrinsic Value; The Attractions of Hedonism; There Are Many Models of a Good Life: ; Personal Authority and Well-Being: ; Misery Clearly Hampers a Good Life; Happiness Clearly Improves It: ; The Limits of Explanation: ; Rules of the Good Life--and Their Exceptions: ; Happiness Is What We Want for Our Loved Ones: ; 2. Is Happiness All That Matters?; The Paradox of Hedonism; Evil Pleasures; The Two Worlds; False Happiness; The Importance of Autonomy; Life's Trajectory; Unhappiness as a Symptom of Harm; Conclusion; 3. Getting What You Want; A Variety of Good Lives; Personal Authority; Avoiding Objective Values; Motivation; Justifying the Pursuit of Self-Interest; Knowledge of the Good; 4. Problems for the Desire Theory; Getting What You Want May Not Be Necessary for Promoting Your Good; Getting What You Want May Not Be Sufficient for Promoting Your Good; Desires Based on False Beliefs: ; Disinterested and Other-Regarding Desires: ; Disappointment: ; Ignorance of Desire Satisfaction: ; Impoverished Desires: ; The Paradox of Self-Harm and Self-Sacrifice: ; The Fallibility of Our Deepest Desires: ; Conclusion; PART TWO. DOING THE RIGHT THING; 5. Morality and Religion; Three Assumptions About Religion and Morality; First Assumption: Religious Belief Is Needed for Moral Motivation: ; Second Assumption: God Is the Creator of Morality: ; Third Assumption: Religion Is an Essential Source of Moral Guidance: ; Conclusion; 6. Natural Law; The Theory and Its Attractions; Two Conceptions of Human Nature; Human Nature Is What Is Innately Human: ; Human Nature Is What All Humans Have in Common: ; Natural Purposes; The Argument from Humanity; Conclusion; 7. Psychological Egoism; Egoism and Altruism; * Does it Matter Whether Psychological Egoism is True; The Argument from Our Strongest Desires; The Argument from Expected Benefit; The Argument from Avoiding Misery; Two Egoistic Strategies; Appealing to the Guilty Conscience: ; Expanding the Realm of Self-Interest: ; Letting the Evidence Decide; Conclusion; 8. Ethical Egoism; Why Be Moral?; Two Popular Arguments for Ethical Egoism; The Self-Reliance Argument: ; The Libertarian Argument: ; The Best Argument for Ethical Egoism; Three Problems for Ethical Egoism; Egoism Violates Core Moral Beliefs: ; Egoism Cannot Allow for the Existence of Moral Rights: ; Egoism Arbitrarily Makes My Interests All-Important: ; Conclusion; 9. Consequentialism: Its Nature and Attractions; The Nature of Consequentialism; Its Structure: ; Maximizing Goodness: ; Moral Knowledge: ; Actual versus Expected Results: ; Assessing Actions and Intentions: ; The Attractions of Utilitarianism; Impartiality: ; The Ability to Justify Conventional Moral Wisdom: ; Conflict Resolution: ; Moral Flexibility: ; The Scope of the Moral Community; 10. Consequentialism: Its Difficulties; Measuring Well-Being; Utilitarianism Is Very Demanding; Deliberation: ; Motivation: ; Action: ; Impartiality; No Intrinsic Wrongness (or Rightness); The Problem of Injustice; Potential Solutions to the Problem of Injustice; Justice Is Also Intrinsically Valuable: ; Injustice Is Never Optimific: ; Justice Must Sometimes Be Sacrificed: ; Rule Consequentialism; Conclusion; 11. The Kantian Perspective: Fairness and Justice; Consistency and Fairness; The Principle of Universalizability; Morality and Rationality; Assessing the Principle of Universalizability; Integrity; Kant on Absolute Moral Duties; 12. The Kantian Perspective: Autonomy and Respect; The Principle of Humanity; The Importance of Rationality and Autonomy; The Good Will and Moral Worth; Five Problems with the Principle of Humanity; Vagueness: ; Determining Just Deserts: ; Are We Autonomous?: ; Moral Luck: ; The Scope of the Moral Community: ; Conclusion; 13. The Social Contract Tradition: The Theory and Its Attractions; The Lure of Proceduralism; The Background of the Social Contract Theory; The Prisoner's Dilemma; Cooperation and the State of Nature; The Advantages of Contractarianism; Morality Is Essentially a Social Phenomenon: ; It Explains and Justifies the Content of the Basic Moral Rules: ; It Offers a Method for Justifying Every Moral Rule: ; It Explains the Objectivity of Morality: ; It Explains Why It Is Sometimes Acceptable to Break the Moral Rules: ; More Advantages: Morality and the Law; Contractarianism Justifies a Basic Moral Duty to Obey the Law: ; The Contractarian Justification of Legal Punishment: ; Contractarianism Justifies the State's Role in Criminal Law: ; Contractarianism and Civil Disobedience: ; 14. The Social Contract Tradition: Problems and Prospects; Why Be Moral?; The Role of Consent; Disagreement Among the Contractors; The Scope of the Moral Community; Conclusion; 15. Ethical Pluralism and Absolute Moral Rules; The Structure of Moral Theories; Is Torture Always Immoral?; Preventing Catastrophes; The Doctrine of Double Effect; A Reply to the Argument from Disaster Prevention: ; How the DDE Threatens Act Consequentialism: ; Distinguishing Intention from Foresight: ; Moral Conflict and Contradiction; Is Moral Absolutism Irrational?; The Doctrine of Doing and Allowing; Conclusion; 16. Ethical Pluralism: Prima Facie Duties and Ethical Particularism; Ross's Ethic of Prima Facie Duties; The Advantages of Ross's View; Pluralism: ; We Are Sometimes Permitted to Break the Moral Rules: ; Moral Conflict: ; Moral Regret: ; Addressing the Anti-Absolutist Arguments: ; A Problem for Ross's View; Knowing the Fundamental Moral Rules; Skepticism: ; Coherentism: ; Self-Evidence: ; Self-Evidence and the Testing of Moral Theories; Knowing the Right Thing to Do; Ethical Particularism; Three Problems for Ethical Particularism; Its Lack of Unity: ; Accounting for Moral Knowledge: ; Some Things Possess Permanent Moral Importance: ; Conclusion; 17. Virtue Ethics; The Standard of Right Action; Moral Complexity; Moral Understanding; Moral Education; The Nature of Virtue; Virtue and the Good Life; Objections; Tragic Dilemmas: ; Does Virtue Ethics Offer Adequate Moral Guidance?: ; Is Virtue Ethics Too Demanding?: ; Who Are the Moral Role Models?: ; Conflict and Contradiction: ; The Priority Problem: ; Conclusion; 18. Feminist Ethics; The Elements of Feminist Ethics; Moral Development; Women's Experience; The Ethics of Care; The Importance of Emotions: ; Against Unification: ; Against Impartiality and Abstraction: ; Against Competition: ; Downplaying Rights: ; Challenges for Feminist Ethics; Conclusion; PART THREE. THE STATUS OF MORALITY; 19. Ethical Relativism; Moral Skepticism; Two Kinds of Ethical Relativism; Some Implications of Ethical Subjectivism and Cultural Relativism; Moral Infallibility: ; Moral Equivalence: ; No Intrinsic Value: ; Questioning Our Own Commitments: ; Moral Progress: ; Ethical Subjectivism and The Problem of Contradiction: ; Cultural Relativism and The Problem of Contradiction: ; Ideal Observers; Conclusion; 20. Moral Nihilism; Error Theory; Expressivism; How Is It Possible to Argue Logically About Morality?: ; Expressivism and Amoralists: ; The Nature of Moral Judgment: ; Conclusion; 21. Ten Arguments Against Moral Objectivity; 1. Objectivity Requires Absolutism; 2. All Truth Is Subjective; 3. Equal Rights Imply Equal Plausibility; 4. Moral Objectivity Supports Dogmatism; 5. Moral Objectivity Supports Intolerance; 6. Moral Disagreement Undermines Moral Objectivity; 7. Atheism Undermines Moral Objectivity; 8. The Absence of Categorical Reasons Undermines Moral Objectivity; 9. Moral Motivation Undermines Moral Objectivity; 10. Values Have No Place in a Scientific World; Conclusion; References: ; Suggestions for Further Reading: ; Glossary: ; Index:

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