Ethics: An Overview

by Robin Attfield

Overview

This is the definitive companion to the study of ethics. It provides students with an accessible, comprehensive and philosophically rigorous introduction to the major thinkers, issues and debates. Ideal for use on undergraduate courses, but also of lasting value for postgraduate students, the structure and content of this textbook closely reflect the way ethics is studied.

Thematically structured, the text provides a historical overview of the subject and a comprehensive introduction to the main branches of ethics: meta-ethics, normative ethics and applied ethics. The book also includes coverage of key aspects of value-theory and key issues concerning agency and moral responsibility. It applies ethics to contemporary issues such as climate change, the environment, development, poverty and war. Crucially, the book encourages students to do ethics for themselves, equipping the reader with a wide-ranging grasp of the discipline in all its central areas of contemporary study and reflection.

Robin Attfield's cogent and thorough analysis is supplemented by student-friendly features, including chapter summaries, study questions, exercises, and a comprehensive guide to further reading and other resources.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441182050
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/10/2012
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Robin Attfield is Professor of Philosophy at Cardiff University, UK. His recent publications include Creation, Evolution and Meaning (2006), Environmental Ethics: An Overview for the 21st Century (2003) and The Ethics of the Global Environment (1999).

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
1. History of Ethics
Aristotle on Eudaemonia and Virtue\ Some Themes from Hobbes and Hume\ Some Kantian Themes
John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism
2. Value-Theory and the Good Life
Pleasure, Happiness and Flourishing
Moral Standing, Value and Intrinsic Value
Worthwhile Life, Self-Respect and Meaningful Work
The Good Life, Needs, Virtue and Morality
3. Normative Ethics
Moral Standing, Value, Rights and Rightness
Consequentialism and Its Critics
Deontology, Contractarianism and Consequentialism
Virtue Ethics
Practice-Consequentialism and Virtue-Consequentialism
4. Applied Ethics
The Re-emergence of Applied Ethics
Medical Ethics
Animal Ethics
Development Ethics
Environmental Ethics
The Ethics of War
5. Meta-Ethics
Non-cognitivism, Projectivism and Prescriptivism
‘Good', ‘Ought' and Morality
Cognitivism and Realism
Internalism, Externalism and Practicality
Naturalism and Non-naturalism
6. Free Will and Responsibility
Responsibility, Character and Determinism
Laws of Nature, ‘Ought' and ‘Can'
Evolution, Randomness, ‘Could' and ‘Would'
The Future Is Open
Index

Editorial Reviews

"It hardly needs saying that a philosopher of Professor Attfield's distinction and a teacher of his experience is capable of producing an introduction to ethics which will present the major issues in a way which is both solidly grounded in knowledge of the literature and lucidly explained, and he amply manifests this capacity in the present work...All students would benefit from these aids to learning, and all teachers will appreciate the teaching aids." --Eric Matthews, Philosophy (vol. 89, no. 349)

From the Publisher

It hardly needs saying that a philosopher of Professor Attfield's distinction and a teacher of his experience is capable of producing an introduction to ethics which will present the major issues in a way which is both solidly grounded in knowledge of the literature and lucidly explained, and he amply manifests this capacity in the present work…All students would benefit from these aids to learning, and all teachers will appreciate the teaching aids.

Eric Matthews

The book under review is helpfully divided into fairly small chapters and each is provided with a short bibliography and selections of questions, some of which dig deeper than a mere reproduction of the information given. This procedure invites and encourages readers and students to formulate or rethink their own positions and opinions. The author himself takes a clear stance in the debates given...In many cases, the author provides strong arguments for his point of view...The segments of the text in which meta-ethics is discussed are particularly well-developed and convincing. In the reviewer's opinion, Attfield's work contains sufficient material to provide the core thesis for even an advanced course on these topics...This book offers well-developed analyses of a variety of relevant topics and provides a good overview of the field of ethics. It can be recommended to all those who are committed to ethics, both students and teachers alike. It can be used to briefly refresh the memory on certain topics, or as a brief introduction to an as yet unconsidered area.

Ethical Perspectives 19 Loic Moureau