Ethics: History, Theory, and Contemporary Issues

900 Pages·1998·192.55 MB·English

by  Steven M. Cahn

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HISTORY, THEORY,
AND CONTEMPORARY
ISSUES
STEVEN M. CAHN PETER MARKIE
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Ethics
and
History, Theory,
Contemporary
Issues
Edited by
STEVEN M. CAHN
PETER MARKIE
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1998
Oxford University Press
Oxford NewYork
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Copyright © 1998 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
PublishedbyOxfordUniversityPress,Inc.
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OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
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means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise,
withoutthepriorpermissionofOxfordUniversityPress.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Ethics :history,theory,andcontemporaryissues/editedby
StevenM.CahnandPeterMarkie.
p. cm.
ISBN0-19-510453-6
1.Ethics. I.Cahn,StevenM. II.Markie,PeterJ., 1950-
BJ1012.M6323 1997
170—DC21 97-14435
Printing(lastdigit): 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
onacid-freepaper
* Contents
Preface / vii
Introduction / vin
HISTORICAL SOURCES
I / 1
Introduction, by Alasdair Maclntyre / 1
1. Plato / 3
Euthyphro I 3
Apology I 14
Crito I 29
Phaedo(ll4d-118) 37
I
Republic (selections) I 39
2. Aristotle / 116
Nicomachean Ethics (selections) I 116
3. Epicurus / 155
Letterto Menoeceus I 155
Leading Doctrines I 158
4. Epictetus / 161
Enchiridion I 161
5. Saint Augustine / 176
Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, andLove (selections) I 176
6. Saint Thomas Aquinas / 185
Summa Contra Gentiles (selections) I 185
7. Thomas Hobbes / 202
Leviathan (selections) I 202
8. Joseph Butler / 227
Fifteen Sermons (selections) I 227
9. David Hume / 243
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles ofMorals (selections) I 244
CONTENTS
10. Immanuel Kant / 275
FundamentalPrinciples oftheMetaphysk ofMorals I 275
11. Jeremy Bentham / 318
An Introduction to thePrinciples ofMorals andLegislation (selections) I 319
12. John Stuart Mill / 343
Utilitarianism I 343
13- Soren Kierkegaard / 381
FearandTrembling (Problema I & 11) I 382
14. Arthur Schopenhauer / 397
On theSufferings ofthe World I 397
15. Friedrich Nietzsche / 404
BeyondGoodandEvil(selections) / 405
On the Genealogy ofMorals (selections) I 413
The Twilight oftheIdols (selections) I 420
16. William James / 423
The MoralPhilosopherandthe MoralLife I 423
17. John Dewey / 436
The Questfor Certainty (selections) I 436
18. Albert Camus / 452
The Myth ofSisyphus I 452
19. Jean-Paul Sartre / 459
Existentialism Is a Humanism I 460
MODERN ETHICAL THEORY
II / 469
Introduction, byJames Rachels / 469
20. G. E. Moore 479
/
Principia Ethica (selections) / 479
21. W. D. Ross 486
/
The RightandThe Good(selections) I 486
22. C. L. Stevenson / 496
The EmotiveMeaning ofEthical Terms I 496
23. R. M. Hare 508
/
Freedom andReason (selections) I 508
,
1
CONTENTS
24. Kurt Baier / 519
The Point ofView ofMorality I 519
25. Gilbert Harman / 536
TheNature ofMorality {selections) I 536
26. James Rachels / 548
The Challenge ofCulturalRelativism I 548
27. Joel Feinberg / 557-
PsychologicalEgoism I 557
28. Bernard Williams / 566
A Critique ofUtilitarianism I 566
29. Richard B. Brandt / 584
Some Merits ofOne Form ofRule Utilitarianism I 584
30. Joel Feinberg / 603
TheNatureandValue ofRights I 603
31. PhilippaFoot / 614
Morality as a System ofHypotheticalImperatives I 614
32. John Rawls / 621
A Theory ofJustice (selections) I 621
33. David Gauthier / 641
Why Contractarianism? / 64
34. Alasdair Maclntyre / 653
After Virtue (selections) I 653
35. James Rachels / 669
The Ethics ofVirtue I 669
36. Virginia Held / 682
Feminist Transformations ofMoral Theory I 682
37. J. O. Urmson / 699
Saints andHeroes I 699
38. Susan Wolf / 708
MoralSaints I 708
39. Thomas Nagel / 722
MoralLuck I 722
CONTENTS
vi
CONTEMPORARY MORAL PROBLEMS
III / 733
Introduction, by Peter Singer / 733
40. JudithJarvis Thomson / 737
A Defense ofAbortion I 737
41. Michael Tooley / 749
Abortion andInfanticide / 749
42. James Sterba / 766
Abortion, DistantPeoples, andFuture Generations I 766
43. James Rachels / 778
ActiveandPassive Euthanasia / 778
44. PhilippaFoot / 782
Euthanasia I 783
45. Peter Singer / 799
Famine, Affluence, andMorality I 799
46. John Arthur 807
/
Famine Reliefandthe IdealMoralCode I 807
47. Tom Regan 821
/
The CaseforAnimalRights I 821
48. Carl Cohen 829
/
The Caseforthe Use ofAnimals in BiomedicalResearch I 829
49- Ernest van den Haag / 837
In Defense ofthe Death Penalty I 837
50. Stephen Nathanson / 849
An Eyeforan Eye: TheMorality ofPunishing by Death {selections) I 849
51. Thomas E. Hill Jr. / 860
The Message ofAffirmativeAction I 860
52. John Kekes 878
/
The Injustice ofAffirmativeAction InvolvingPreferential Treatment I 879
i
Preface
This comprehensive collection offers instructors the opportunity to construct courses in
ethics combining as wished the history ofmoral philosophy, modern ethical theory, and
contemporary moral problems. The readings are reprinted, wherever possible, without
omissions. Among the major historical works presented unabridged are Plato's Euthyphro,
Apology, and Crito, Kant'sFundamentalPrinciplesoftheMetaphysicofMorals, and Mill's Utili-
tarianism.
The ideaforsuchaninclusivevolumedevelopedfromconversationswith RobertMiller,
our editor at Oxford University Press, and we are most grateful for his initial encourage-
ment and continuing support. We thank those anonymous referees, chosen by the Press,
whooffered helpful suggestions regarding the book's structure and contents. We alsowish
to express our appreciation to Ian Gardiner for his conscientious proofreading and to the
staffofOxford University Press for providing generous assistance throughout the stages
ofproduction.
* Introduction
All ofus from time to time reflect on the moral dimension ofour lives: what sorts ofper-
sons we ought to be, which goals are worth pursuing, and how we should relate to others.
We may wonderabout the answers to these questions that have beenprovided by the most
profound thinkers ofpast generations; we may speculate whether their conflicting opin-
ions amount to disagreements about the truth or are merely expressions oftheir differing
attitudes; we may consider how their varied theories might help us understand moral is-
sues ofour own day.
This book ofreadingsprovides the materials toaddress these matters. In Part I we have
collected the most influential ethical theories from nearly 2,500 years of philosophical
thought, beginning in ancient Greece with Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle and continuing
through medieval and modern times to the twentieth-century French thinkers Camus and
Sartre. Part II contains recent articles that explore theoretical issues concerning the nature
ofmoral judgments, the resolution ofmoral disagreements, and the evaluation ofmoral
theories. Part III offers reflections on contemporary moral problems, including abortion,
euthanasia, famine relief, animal rights, capital punishment, and affirmative action. In
each case thoughtful arguments for and against are presented for your consideration.
Whichphilosophicalpositionsarecorrect?Justas eachmemberofajuryatatrial needs
to make a decision and defend a view after considering all the relevant evidence, so each
philosophical inquirer needs to make adecisionand defend aviewafterconsidering all the
relevant opinions. This book makes available in convenient form the materials on which
to base your thinking. But the challenge and excitement ofphilosophy is that, after tak-
ing account ofthe work others have done, the responsibility for reaching conclusions is
your own.
Should youwish to learn more aboutparticularmoral philosophers or specific moral is-
sues, an excellent source to consult is the Encyclopedia ofEthics (Garland, 1992), edited by
Lawrence C. Becker, which contains detailed entries with bibliographies on every signifi-
cant topic in the field.