The Elements of Moral Philosophy - Softcover

Rachels, James; Rachels, Stuart

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0071267832 ISBN 13: 9780071267830

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education / Asia, 2009

Synopsis

Firmly established as the standard text for undergraduate courses in ethics, this concise, lively book takes the reader on an in-depth tour of the major moral theories, always illustrating abstract ideas with concrete examples. Separate, self-contained chapters examine such theories as Egoism, Kantianism, Utilitarianism, Virtue Ethics, and the Social Contract Theory. Through this conceptual framework, the text addresses timely and provocative issues, including abortion, racism, euthanasia, poverty, marijuana, homosexuality, the death penalty, and vegetarianism. The text's versatility makes it an ideal choice for use not only in ethical theory courses, but also in applied ethics courses of all kinds.

About this title

From the Publisher:

A new chapter 12 on feminist philosophy
New sections include: Baby Theresa and Tracy Latimer (chapter 1), Judging a Cultural Practice to Be Immoral (see Chapter 2), Are There Proofs in Ethics? (see Chapter 3), and whether utilitarianism is too demanding (Chapter 8).
A rewritten section on Natural Law to include a fuller description of Aristotle's world-view with a discussion of Aristotle's world view versus modern science (chapter 4)
A smoother introduction to chapter 11 with The Prisoner's Dilemma described more clearly.
Concise and inexpensive
A lucid, lively introduction of the major philosophical theories of morality and one acknowledged for its clarity in explaining ethical theory to students
Explains why each theory has been accepted by some thinkers but rejected by others
Important current issues such as abortion, euthanasia, the treatment of non-human animals, and famine relief are discussed in depth to illustrate the theories, and to reveal their implications.
Also widely used in Biomedical Ethics and Business Ethics courses as a brief, affordable text for the ethical theory portion of those courses.

About the Author:

James Rachels, the distinguished American moral philosopher, was born in Columbus, Georgia, graduating from Mercer University in Macon in 1962. He received his Ph.D. in 1967 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He taught at the University of Richmond, New York University, the University of Miami, Duke University, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he spent the last twenty-six years of his career. 1971 saw the publication of Rachels groundbreaking textbook Moral Problems, which ignited the movement in America away from teaching ethical theory towards teaching concrete practical issues. Moral Problems sold 100,000 copies over three editions. In 1975, Rachels wrote Active and Passive Euthanasia, arguing that the distinction so important in the law between killing and letting die has no rational basis. Originally appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine, this essay has been reprinted roughly 300 times and is a staple of undergraduate education. The End of Life (1986) was about the morality of killing and the value of life. Created from Animals (1990) argued that a Darwinian world-view has widespread philosophical implications, including drastic implications for our treatment of nonhuman animals. Can Ethics Provide Answers? (1997) was Rachels first collection of papers (others are expected posthumously). Rachels McGraw-Hill textbook, The Elements of Moral Philosophy, is now in its fourth edition and is easily the best-selling book of its kind.Over his career, Rachels wrote 5 books and 85 essays, edited 7 books and gave about 275 professional lectures. His work has been translated into Dutch, Italian, Japanese, and Serbo-Croatian. James Rachels is widely admired as a stylist, as his prose is remarkably free of jargon and clutter. A major theme in his work is that reason can resolve difficult moral issues. He has given reasons for moral vegetarianism and animal rights, for affirmative action (including quotas), for the humanitarian use of euthanasia, and for the idea that parents owe as much moral consideration to other peoples children as they do to their own. James Rachels died of cancer on September 5th, 2003, in Birmingham, Alabama.

About this edition

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education / Asia
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0071267832
• ISBN 13: 9780071267830
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 6