Description
Book SynopsisThis is Ethics presents an accessible and engaging introduction to a variety of issues relating to contemporary moral philosophy.
- Covers a wide range of topics which are actively debated in contemporary moral philosophy
- Addresses the nature of happiness, well-being, and the meaning of life, the role of moral principles in moral thinking, moral motivation, and moral responsibility
- Covers timely ethical issues such as population growth and climate change
- Offers additional resources athttps://thisisphilosoph.wordpress.com/ethics/
- Features extensive annotated bibliographies, summaries, and study questions for further investigation
- Written in an accessible, jargon-free manner using helpful illustrative examples
Table of ContentsPreface xv
Acknowledgments xix
Part One What’s in Our Interests? 1
1 Pleasure 3
Three Questions about Pleasure 4
What Is Pleasure? 6
The sensation view 7
The attitude view 7
The desire view 8
Physiology of pleasure* 10
Value of Pleasure 11
Hedonism 12
Argument in favor of hedonism 1: Discernible differences 13
Argument in favor of hedonism 2: Motivation 13
Higher pleasures 13
Pluralism about prudential value 15
Nozick’s experience machine argument 15
Two responses to Nozick 16
Pessimism about the value of pleasure* 17
Summary and Questions 19
Annotated Bibliography 20
Online Resources 22
2 Happiness, Well-being, and the Meaning of Life 25
Hedonism, Again 27
Objection 1: Trivial pleasures 28
Objection 2: The role of happiness in deliberation 28
Satisfaction Theories 29
Desire satisfaction theories of well-being 29
Objections to desire satisfaction theories 30
Objection 1: Which desires count? 30
Objection 2: Expensive tastes 31
Life satisfaction theories of happiness 32
An objection to life satisfaction theories 33
Objective List Theories 34
Objections to the objective list theories 35
The Capability Approach* 37
Happiness and the Meaning of Life 39
Emotional state theory of happiness* 40
The question of the meaning of life 41
Susan Wolf ’s fitting fulfillment theory 42
Summary and Questions 43
Annotated Bibliography 44
Online Resources 47
Part Two Normative Ethics 51
3 Egoism and Altruism 53
Different Forms of Egoism and Altruism 55
Feldman’s objection to ethical egoism 56
Two Arguments for Ethical Egoism 57
The “ought implies can” argument 58
The practical reasons argument 58
Two Objections to Psychological Egoism 59
The everyday objection 59
The evolutionary objection 60
Moore’s Argument against Ethical Egoism* 62
Problems of Moore’s argument* 63
Gauthier’s Contractarianism 64
The paradox of social cooperation 65
Contractarianism as a solution 67
The compliance problem 68
Reason one: Risk of exclusion 69
Reason two: Risk of revealing your true motives 69
Summary 69
Problems with Gauthier’s Theory 70
Objection 1: Scope of moral concern 70
Objection 2: Deception 70
Objection 3: Acting for right reasons 71
Summary and Questions 71
Annotated Bibliography 73
Online Resources 75
4 Consequentialism and Kantian Ethics 79
Consequentialism 80
Utilitarianism 82
Deliberation procedure vs. criterion of rightness 83
Direct vs. indirect forms of consequentialism 83
Utilitarianism vs. richer conceptions of value 84
Actual vs. expected value 85
Maximizing vs. satisficing 86
Mill’s Argument for Utilitarianism 86
The problems with Mill’s argument 88
Saving Mill’s argument 89
Kantian Ethics 90
The good will 90
The universalization test 92
Duties, right and wrong 94
Why do the right thing? 95
Reason 1: Exceptions 95
Reason 2: Freedom 96
Counterexamples and Convergence 97
Counterexamples to utilitarianism 98
Counterexamples to the Categorical Imperative 99
Utilitarian and consequentialist responses to the counterexamples* 100
Kantian responses to the counterexamples* 102
Convergence* 104
Summary and Questions 105
Annotated Bibliography 106
Online Resources 109
5 Intuitionism, Particularism, and Virtue Ethics 113
Ross’s Objection to Consequentialism and Kantian Ethics 113
Intuitionism in Normative Ethics 115
Prima facie duties 115
How do you know? 117
Prima facie duties and actual duties 118
Particularism 120
Prima facie duties and holism 120
Holism and particularism* 121
Knowing what is right* 123
Virtue Ethics 124
Flourishing 125
Virtue acquisition 127
Acting virtuously 128
Right and wrong acts 129
Two Objections to Virtue Ethics 130
Circularity 130
Improving yourself 131
Virtue ethics and moral sensibility 131
Summary and Questions 133
Annotated Bibliography 134
Online Resources 136
Part Three Metaethics 139
6 Subjectivism, Relativism, and Divine Commands 141
Subjectivism 143
Advantages of subjectivism 144
Objections to subjectivism 144
Objection 1: Experience 145
Objection 2: Infallibility 145
Objection 3: Disagreement 145
Relativism 146
Advantages of relativism 148
Problems of relativism 149
Problem 1: Disagreement 149
Problem 2: Moral fallibility 150
Problem 3: Tolerance 150
Problem 4: Multiculturalism 151
Divine Command Theory 151
Divine command theory and moral words 151
Divine command theory and moral properties 153
Advantages of divine command theory 154
The Euthyphro Dilemma* 155
What is right explains what God commands* 156
God’s commands explain what is right* 156
Problem 1: God’s goodness 157
Problem 2: Anything could be wrong 157
Problem 3: The reasons for God’s commands 158
Summary and Questions 158
Annotated Bibliography 159
Online Resources 163
7 Naturalism and the Open Question Argument 167
Moral Realism 167
Naturalism vs. non-naturalism 168
Pros and cons of non-naturalism 169
The Open Question Argument 171
Stage 1: Words and properties 172
Stage 2: Moral words and moral properties 173
Stage 3: The open question test 173
Stage 4: Moral words and open questions 174
Stage 5: Putting the argument together 175
Responses to the Open Question Argument 176
Response 1: Begging the question 176
Response 2: Making know-how explicit 177
Response 3: The sense/reference distinction 179
Intuitionism in Metaethics* 181
The problem of knowledge* 181
Foundationalism to the rescue* 183
Misconceptions and objections* 184
Misconception 1: The role of experience and emotions 184
Misconception 2: What seems self-evident to you 184
Objection 1: People who understand but don’t agree 185
Objection 2: Dogmatism 186
Summary and Questions 186
Annotated Bibliography 187
Online Resources 190
8 Moral Motivation and Expressivism 195
The Argument from Motivation 196
The Humean Theory of Motivation 197
Directions of fit 197
The role of beliefs and desires 198
Moral Judgment Internalism 199
Very Strong Internalism 200
Weakness of will 201
Strong Internalism 201
Counterexamples to Strong Internalism 202
Amoralists 202
Bad people 203
A case of depression 204
Expressivism 205
The core claims of expressivism 206
Claim 1: Moral judgments 207
Claim 2: Moral language 208
Claim 3: Moral properties 210
Responses to two common objections 211
Objection 1: Truths and facts 211
Objection 2: Mere attitudes 211
The Frege–Geach Problem 212
Embedded claims 212
Valid inferences* 213
The negation problem* 214
Summary and Questions 215
Annotated Bibliography 217
Online Resources 220
Part Four Ethical Questions 223
9 Moral Responsibility 225
What Is Moral Responsibility? 225
Causal responsibility and attributability 227
The agency condition 227
Freedom and real selves 229
The Freedom Principle: A Threat for Moral Responsibility 230
The consequence argument 230
The problem of luck 231
Galen Strawson’s argument against moral responsibility 232
The Frankfurt Cases 234
Objections and responses* 235
Objection 1: Flicker of freedom 235
Objection 2: A dilemma 235
Response 1: Mele and Robb 236
Response 2: Dennett 236
The Deep Attributability Principle 237
Frankfurt’s higher-order desire theory 238
The Real Self 239
Watson’s theory of the real self 240
The time-slice problem 241
Responsiveness to reasons 242
Summary and Questions 243
Annotated Bibliography 244
Online Resources 247
10 Population Growth and Climate Change 249
The Non-Identity Effect 251
The Repugnant Conclusion 253
The average utility principle 256
Critical-level utilitarianism* 257
Variable value view and intuitions* 259
Climate Change and Personal Obligations 260
Carbon off setting 261
Climate Change and Governments 262
The discount rate* 264
The social action problem 266
Climate Change and Uncertainty 267
Maximizing expected value* 268
Summary and Questions 269
Annotated Bibliography 271
Online Resources 272
Glossary of Terms 275
Index 293
