264 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    264 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Basic Ethics presents for a wide range of students and other interested readers the questions raised in thinking about ethical problems, the answers offered by moral philosophy, and the means to better integrate into both the reader’s world and personal life. It takes up what the author calls a "worldview theory," which shows readers how to begin with the values and understanding of the world that they already possess in order to transition from there to new levels of increasing ethical awareness. Updates to the third edition include the more thorough integration of feminist ethics into the principal theoretical traditions, a new chapter on the ethical responsibility to be well informed of current events, expanded coverage of human rights, and additional opportunities on how to use ethical reasoning in thinking about one’s own life and about public policy.

    Key Features:

    • Links personal values to a philosophical treatment of the major ethical theories
    • Presents ethics in the context of social/political issues that face our nation and the world
    • Challenges the student to react to the presented material through critical exercises that may be used as weekly assignments and can form the basis of class discussion and evaluation.
    • Engages the student to think about underlying issues first (in the basic questions) before presenting the most popular solutions (in the basic answers)
    • Invites the reader to make up her own mind on how to formulate an ethical theory that will help her in her own life
    • Offers a 16-chapter format to fit into most college-semester calendars
    • Presents an overall structure that establishes foundational problems in ethical theory in the first section of the book that are variously addressed by the different ethical theories in the second section of the book
    • Highlights key terms to help the reader grapple with issues raised (which are reviewed and defined in a final Glossary)
    • Includes a final chapter designed to help students comprehend the book in its entirety.

    Updates to the Third Edition:

    • Highlights new research on human rights and their relevance to ethical thinking and contemporary moral issues
    • Integrates feminist ethics into the principal theoretical traditions: virtue ethics, ethical intuitionism, and some versions of deontology
    • Provides new coverage of "fake news" and the moral responsibility to be well and accurately informed of current events
    • Expands opportunities to use ethical reasoning in thinking about one’s own life and about public policy.

    Part I: The Basic Questions

    1. Living in a World of Values
    I. Who We Are and What Do We Value?
    II.What Is Ethics?
    III.The Individual: Metaethics, Normative Ethics, and Applied Ethics

    IV. The Society: Social and Political Ethics

    Key Terms
    End of Chapter Exercise

    Notes

    2. Personal Worldview and Community Worldview
    I. The Normative Nature of Worldview
    II. Personal Worldview
    III. Community Worldview
    Key Terms
    End of Chapter Exercise

    Notes

    3. The Ethical Duty to Be Knowledgeable about Your World
    I. Epistemology and Action Theory
    II. Living in Community and the Obligation to Be an Active Member
    III. What Are Facts and What Is Opinion?
    IV. Facts and Decision Making
    V. How to Ferret out Facts from Propaganda
    VI. Deductive, Inductive, and Abductive Logic

    Conclusion
    Key Terms
    End of Chapter Exercise

    Notes

    4. Relativism
    I. Cultural Relativism
    II. Moral Relativism
    III. What Is at Stake?
    Key Terms
    End of Chapter Exercise

    Notes

    5. Egoism
    I. Introduction
    II. Psychological Egoism
    III. Ethical Egoism
    IV. Egoism and Altruism

    Key Terms
    End of Chapter Exercise

    Notes

    6. Are People Good or Bad?
    I. Introduction
    II. Humans Are Bad
    III. Humans Are Good
    IV. What Difference Does It Make?
    Key Terms
    End of Chapter Exercise

    Notes

    7. Morality and Religion
    I. Introduction
    II. The Origin of the Problem
    III. Absolute Good
    IV. Divine Command Theory
    V. An Ethics with and without Religion
    Key Terms
    End of Chapter Exercise

    Notes

    8. Feminist Ethics
    I. Introduction
    II. Gender: Are Men and Women Different?
    III. Care and Justice
    IV. Race: What Is Race and Why Is It an Issue?
    V. Opportunity and Desert
    V. Where Does Feminist Ethics Find a Home in Traditional Theories?
    Key Terms
    End of Chapter Exercise

    Notes

    Part II: The Basic Answers

    9. It’s All about Your Intuition: Ethical Intuitionism
    I. Snapshot
    II. The Problem this Theory Addresses
    III. The Argument for the Theory
    IV. The Argument against the Theory
    Key Terms
    End of Chapter Exercise

    Notes

    10. It’s All about Your Attitude: Ethical Non-Cognitivism
    I. Snapshot
    II. The Problem this Theory Addresses
    III. The Argument for the Theory
    IV. The Argument against the Theory
    Key Terms
    End of Chapter Exercise

    Notes

    11. It’s All about Freely Made Agreements: Ethical Contractarianism
    I. Snapshot
    II. The Problem this Theory Addresses
    III. The Argument for the Theory
    IV. The Argument against the Theory
    Key Terms
    End of Chapter Exercise

    Notes

    12. It’s all About Your Character: Virtue Ethics
    I. Snapshot
    II. The Problem this Theory Addresses
    III. The Argument for the Theory
    IV. The Argument against the Theory
    Key Terms
    End of Chapter Exercise

    Notes

    13. It’s all About the Team: Utilitarianism
    I. Snapshot
    II. The Problem this Theory Addresses
    III. The Argument for the Theory
    IV. The Argument against the Theory
    Key Terms
    End of Chapter Exercise

    Notes

    14. It’s all About Your Duty: Deontology
    I. Snapshot
    II. The Problem this Theory Addresses
    III. The Argument for the Theory
    IV. The Argument against the Theory
    Key Terms
    End of Chapter Exercise

    Notes

    Part III: Putting it All Together

    15. Human Rights
    I. Snapshot
    II. Supporting Human Rights via Traditional Theories
    III. Ethical Realism and Anti-Realism and Human Rights
    IV. Ethical Intuitionism and Human Rights
    V. Ethical Non-Cognitivism and Human Rights
    VI. Ethical Contractarianism and Human Rights
    VII. Virtue Ethics and Human Rights
    VIII. Utilitarianism and Human Rights
    IX. Deontology and Human Rights

    Key Terms
    End of Chapter Exercise

    Notes

    16. Formulating Your Own Answers
    I. Snapshot
    II. The Problem
    III. The Topography of Theory Evaluation
    IV. How to Choose an Ethical Theory
    V. Applying Ethical Theory to Contemporary Social/Political Problems
    VI. Applying Ethical Theory to Personal Life Decisions

    Key Terms
    End of Chapter Exercise

    Notes

    Glossary

    Biography

    Michael Boylan is Professor of Philosophy at Marymount University. He is the author of 37 books including: A Just Society (2004); Morality and Global Justice (2010); Natural Human Rights: A Theory (2014); Fictive Narrative Philosophy: How Fiction Can Act As Philosophy (2019); and The De Anima Novels and The Arche Novels (ten philosophical novels published between 2007 and 2020). He has been an invited speaker at universities in 15 countries on 5 continents and has served on national governmental policy committees.

    Praise for previous editions:

    "Basic Ethics is an unusually rewarding text. It takes the student through central topics of normative ethics and metaethics, but it does so in a critical and constructive way that sheds new light on their basic issues. Boylan also adds helpful sections on applied ethics, as well as challenging and illuminating discussion of the importance of personal worldviews—both for moral philosophy and for human life as a whole. The book is written in a style that is at once engaging and rigorous."
    Alan Gewirth, University of Chicago

    "I really like the underlying theme of a worldview throughout the book. The opportunity for students to reflect on values, where they stem from, and what is right and wrong and why is something everyone should explore."
    Jeff Anstine, North Central College, Naperville, IL

    "Basic Ethics nicely combines a survey of the main contending ethical theories with a reasonable procedure for enabling students to select among these. It should make an excellent text!"
    James Sterba, University of Notre Dame