The Fundamentals of Ethics

Table of Contents

Preface

New to the Fourth 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

What Is Morality?

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. Normative Ethics: Doing the Right Thing

5. Morality and Religion

Three Assumptions about Morality and Religion

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

Three Conceptions of Human Nature

Human Nature as Animal Nature

Human Nature Is What Is Innate

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

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

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

Slippery Slope Arguments

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

Contractarianism Explains and Justifies the Content of the Basic Moral Rules

Contractarianism Offers a Method for Justifying Every Moral Rule

Contractarianism Explains the Objectivity of Morality

Contractarianism 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

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. Metaethics: 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

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. Eleven 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 Objectivity Cannot Allow for Legitimate Cultural Variation

7. Moral Disagreement Undermines Moral Objectivity

8. Atheism Undermines Moral Objectivity

9. The Absence of Categorical Reasons Undermines Moral Objectivity

10. Moral Motivation Undermines Moral Objectivity

11. Values Have No Place in a Scientific World

Conclusion

References

Suggestions for Further Reading

Glossary

Index

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