About the Book
Designed for contemporary moral problems courses, Bonevac's "Today's Moral Issues" is unique in providing theoretical readings related to the contemporary issues readings that follow; students connect theory and practice, thereby making the theory interesting and relevant. In addition to providing readings on contemporary topics, the book lends historical perspective to current moral issues with its unique inclusion of classic selections by philosophers such as, Aristotle, Mill, Kant, and Locke.
Table of Contents:
PrefaceIntroduction: Moral Arguments and Moral Relativism Relativism / Arguments / Evaluating Arguments: Three Arguments for Cultural Relativism / Arguments Against Cultural Relativism / Making Moral Arguments / Exceptions to Moral Principles Part I. First Principles Theoretical Approaches / Aristotle, from Nicomachean Ethics / *St. Thomas Aquinas, from Summa Theologica / David Hume, from A Treatise of Human Nature / Immanuel Kant, from Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals / John Stuart Mill, from Utilitarianism / John Rawls, from A Theory of Justice / *Simone de Beauvoir, from The Ethics of AmbiguitySexual Behavior / Bertrand Russell, "Our Sexual Ethics" / Thomas Mappes, "Sexual Morality and the Concept of Using Another Person" / Sydney Callahan, Abortion and the Sexual Agenda / Roger Scruton, from Sexual DesireAnimals / International League of the Rights of Animals, Universal Declaration of the Rights of Animals / Peter Singer, from Animal Liberation / Tom Regan, "The Case for Animal Rights" / Carl Cohen, The Case for the Use of Animals in Biomedical Research / David Carruthers, from The Animals IssueThe Environment / *Garrett Hardin, The Tragedy of the Commons / *Richard Stroup, John Baden, with David Fractor, Property Rights: The Real Issue / Paul and Anne Ehrlich, "Risks, Costs, and Benefits" / *Aldo Leopold, "The Land Ethic" / William Baxter, from People or Penguins / Bill Devall and George Sessions, "Deep Ecology" / *Karen J. Warren, The Power and the Promise of Ecological Feminism Part II. Liberty Theoretical Approaches / *Plato, from the Republic / Aristotle, from Nicomachean Ethics / Edmund Burke, from Reflections on the Revolution in France / John Stuart Mill, from On LibertyDrug Legalization / Milton Friedman, "An Open Letter to Bill Bennett" / William J. Bennett, "A Response to Milton Friedman" / Ethan A. Nadelmann, "The Case for Legalization" / James Q. Wilson, "Against the Legalization of Drugs" / Douglas Husak, from Drugs and RightsPornography / Catherine MacKinnon, "Pornography, Civil Rights, and Speech" / Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, "The Question of Harm" / Wendy McElroy, from Sexual Correctness / Nadine Strossen, from Defending PornographyOffensive Speech and Behavior / Justice Antonin Scalia, majority opinion in R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, Minnesota / Stanley Fish, from There's No Such Thing as Free Speech, and It's a Good Thing, Too / Johnathan Rauch, "Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought" Part III. Rights and Responsibilities Theoretical Approaches / Thomas Hobbes, from Leviathan / John Locke, from Second Treatise of Government / Edmund Burke, from Reflections on the Revolution in France / John Stuart Mill, from UtilitarianismPrivacy / *Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis, "The Right to Privacy" / Richard Posner, from The Economics of Justice / Jeffrey H. Reiman, "Driving to the Panopticon" / *Rita C. Manning, "Liberal and Communitarian Defenses of Workplace Privacy" / *Mark Alfino and G. Randolph Mayes, "Rationality and the Right to Privacy"Abortion / Justice Harry Blackmun, majority opinion in Roe v. Wade / Judith Jarvis Thomson, "A Defense of Abortion" / Mary Anne Warren, "On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion" / Jane English, "Abortion and the Concept of a Person" / Don Marquis, "Why Abortion Is Immoral"Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide / Matter of Quinlan / J. Gay-Williams, "The Wrongfulness of Euthanasia" / James Rachels, "The Morality of Euthanasia" / Ronald Dworkin, Thomas Nagel, Robert Nozik, John Rawls, Thomas Scanlon, and Judith Jarvis Thomson, "The Brief of the Amici Curiae" / Chief Justice William Rehnquist, majority opinion in Washington v. GlucksbergCapital Punishment / *Albert Camus, Reflections on the Guillotine / Justice William Brennan, concurring opinion in Furman v. Georgia / Justices Stewart, Powell, and Stevens, majority opinion in Gregg v. Georgia / Ernest van den Haag, from The Death Penalty: A Debate / Hugo Adam Bedau, "The Case Against the Death Penalty" / *William Tucker, "Why the Death Penalty Works" Part IV. Justice and Equality Theoretical Approaches / Aristotle, from Nicomachean Ethics / Aristotle, from Politics / John Locke, from Second Treatise of Government / Jean-Jacques Rousseau, from Discourse on the Origin of Inequaiity; from On the Social Contract / *Albert Camus, Bread and Freedom / John Rawls, from A Theory of Justice / Robert Nozick, from Anarchy, State, and Utopia / *Susan Okin, Justice and GenderEconomic Equality / Kai Nielsen, "Egalitarian Justice: Equality as a Goal and Equality as a Right" / John Hospers "What Libertarianism Is' / Ronald Dworkin, "Liberalism" / *Michael Walzer, "Welfare, Membership, and Need" / Charles Murray, Losing Ground / Michael Tanner and Stephen Moore, "Why Welfare Pays"Racial Equality / *Justice Earl Warren, majority opinion in Brown v. Board of Education / *Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have a Dream" / Justice Lewis Powell, majority opinion in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke / Hopwood v. Texas / Justice Antonin Scalia, "The Disease as a Cure" / Bernard R. Boxil, "Blacks and Social Justice" / Thomas Sowell, "Affirmative Action: A Worldwide Disaster" / *William G. Bowen and Derek Bok, The Shape of the RiverSexual Equality / *Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, majority opinion in U.S. v. Virginia / *Justice Antonin Scalia, dissenting opinion in U.S. v. Virginia / *Mary Wollstonecraft, from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman / *Alison Jaggar, "Sexual Difference and Sexual Equality" / *Christine Littleton, "Reconstructing Sexual Equality" / *Christina Hoff Sommers, from Who Stole Feminism?Global Equality / Garrett Hardin, "The Case Against Helping the Poor" / Peter Singer, from Practical Ethics / *Gerald P. O.Driskill, Jr., Kim R. Holmes, and Melanie Kirkpatrick, "Who's Free, Who's Not"Asterisk denotes readings new to this edition
