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First, it undermines your personal freedom. If you accept and never question the moral beliefs handed to you by your culture, then those beliefs are not really yours—and they, not you, control the path you take in life. Only if you critically examine these beliefs yourself and decide for yourself whether they have merit will […]

Do these actions and a million others just as controversial matter at all? FUNDAMENTALS safe route. To not do ethics is to stay locked in a kind of intellectual limbo, where exploration in ethics and personal moral progress are barely possible. The philosopher Paul Taylor suggests that there is yet another risk in taking the

Does it matter who actually writes the term paper you turn in and represent as your own? Does it matter whether the state executes a criminal who has the mental capacity of a ten- year-old? Does it matter who actually writes the term paper you turn in and represent as your own? Does it matter

Does it matter whether we can easily save a drowning child but casually decide not to? Does it matter whether the state executes a criminal who has the mental capacity of a ten- year-old? Does it matter who actually writes the term paper you turn in and represent as your own? Does it matter whether

Does it matter whether the state executes a criminal who has the mental capacity of a ten year old? Does it matter whether the state executes a criminal who has the mental capacity of a ten- year-old? Does it matter who actually writes the term paper you turn in and represent as your own? Does

What is at stake when we do ethics? What is at stake when we do ethics? In an important sense, the answer is everything we hold dear. Ethics is concerned with values—specifically, moral values. Through the sifting and weighing of moral values we determine what the most impor- tant things are in our lives, what

Ethical Issues In Part 4 (“Ethical Issues”), each of twelve chap- ters explores a timely moral issue through discussion and relevant readings: abortion, genetic manipula- tion and human cloning, euthanasia and physician- assisted suicide, drug use, capital punishment, sexual morality, same-sex marriage, environmental ethics, animal rights, affirmative action, political violence, and global economic justice. Every

Theories of Morality Part 3 (“Theories of Morality”) is about apply- ing critical reasoning to moral theories. Chapter 4 explains how moral theories work and how they are related to other important elements in moral experience: considered judgments, moral argu- ments, moral principles and rules, and cases and issues. It reviews major theories and shows

Moral Reasoning Part 2 (“Moral Reasoning”) consists of Chapter 3, which starts by reassuring students that moral rea- soning is neither alien nor difficult but is simply 213006_00_i-xviii_r2_as.qxp:213006_00_i-xviii_r2_as 8/6/15 1:25 AM Page xv ordinary critical reasoning applied to ethics. They’ve seen this kind of reasoning before and done it before. Thus, the chapter focuses on

Fundamentals Part 1 (“Fundamentals”) prepares students for the tasks enumerated above. Chapter 1 explains why ethics is important and why thinking critically about ethical issues is essential to the examined life. It introduces the field of moral philosophy, defines and illustrates basic terminology, clarifies the connection between religion and morality, and explains why moral reasoning