About the Book
This is an anthology of substantive selections from key texts in the history of moral philosophy or ethical theory. It may be used in an ethics course or in the ethics segment of an introduction to philosophy course. Student apparatus includes a concise introductory chapter, "What Is Ethics?" surveying major concepts, an end of book glossary of terms, a concise introduction to each philosopher, a helpful running commentary within each selection, and thought-provoking discussion questions at the end of each chapter. The revision features a new chapter 11 on Rawls, A Theory of Justice. The interspersed, extensive commentary and guide to the text and readings has been expanded throughout.
Table of Contents:
How to Use This BookIntroduction: What Is Ethics1. PLATO: Crito (complete);The Republic: What is Justice, The Myth of the Cave2. ARISTOTLE: The Nicomachean Ethics: The Goal of Human Activity, Moral Virtue, Questions about Action, The Intellectual Virtues and the Practical Syllogism, Incontinence (Akrasia), Friendship, Pleasure and Happiness3. SAINT AUGUSTINE: The City of God: The Two Cities, No Peace of Mind in This Life, What the Righteous Wish For, Hell upon Earth, The Blessings of This Life, The City of God, The Problem of Evil4. THOMAS HOBBES: Leviathan: On the Passions, On the Natural Condition of Mankind, On the First and Second Natural Laws, On the Causes of a Commonwealth, On the Liberty of Subjects5. DAVID HUME: Treatise of Human Nature: Of Virtue and Vice in General, Moral Distinctions Derived from a Moral Sense; An Inquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals: Of the General Principles of Morals, Of Benevolence, Of Justice, Why Utility Pleases, Virtue Approval and Self-Love, Of Self-Love6. IMMANUEL KANT: Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals: Empirical and A Priori Ethics, The Rational Basis of Morality, The Categorical Imperative, Freedom and Autonomy7. JOHN STUART MILL: Utilitarianism: Happiness and the Summum Bonum, What Utilitarianism Is, The Ultimate Sanction of the Principle of Utility, The "Proof" of Utilitarianism, Justice and Utility8. FRIEDRICH NIETZCHE: The Gay Science (excerpts); Thus Spoke Zarathustra (excerpts); Beyond Good and Evil: The Natural History of Morals, What Is Noble?; On the Genealogy of Morals: Good and Evil and Good and Bad, Guilt Bad Conscience and Related Matters; Twilight of the Idols: Morality as Anti-Nature; The Antichrist: Revaluation of All Values; The Will to Power: Whose Will to Power Is Morality?, The Tendency of Moral Evolution9. ALBERT CAMUS: The Myth of Sisyphus: An Absurd Reasoning; The Stranger: The "After Life."10. JEAN-PAUL SARTRE: Existentialism is a Humanism (excerpt); Being and Nothingness: Bad Faith, Freedom and Responsibility11. JOHN RAWLS: A Theory of Justice: Justice as Fairness, Goodness as Rationality, The Sense of JusticeGlossary
About the Author :
Robert C. Solomon is Quincy Lee Centennial Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and has taught at Princeton University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of California. He is the author of FROM RATIONALISM TO EXISTENTIALISM (Harper & Row, 1972), THE PASSIONS (Doubleday, 1976), IN THE SPIRIT OF HEGEL (Oxford, 1983), ABOUT LOVE (Simon & Schuster, 1988), ETHICS AND EXCELLENCE (Oxford, 1992), NEW WORLD OF BUSINESS (Rowman & Littlefield, 1994), and A PASSION FOR WISDOM (Oxford, 1997), as well as a number of textbooks in general philosophy. He has won numerous awards for his teaching and has taught in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Jennifer K. Greene is a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and has taught at St. Edwards University, Southwestern University, and Baylor University. She is the author of several articles on coercion, and specializes in ethics and social and political philosophy.
