The new edition is now available!

This revised edition provides an overview of the major ethical theories found in Western Philosophy and religion, with quotations from original sources, and examples of how the theories may be applied to a range of contemporary moral issues. It is particularly suitable for those taking papers in Ethics at AS and A2 level, and aims to give students a sound background for handling particular issues in applied ethics

A full list of contents for is given below.

(Although Amazon do not seem to have put in the correct title, the box on the right may be used for ordering copies of Ethical Theory. )

This book gives a broad introduction to ethical theories, but in order to deal with ethical issues, it is also important to have a working knowledge of the relevant facts and dilemmas. To get maximum benefit from this book, it should be used alongside the titles on applied ethics in the Access to Philosophy series: Medical Ethics, Issues of Life and Death, Sex and Relationships and Environmental Ethics.

There are a vast number of books on ethics, and for students at A level it is also important to keep in touch with moral issues as they appear in the media, being prepared to give a reasoned point of view on the issues of the day - which is, after all, the point of studying ethics.  Those listed below are but a personal selection:

For an authoritative and concise summary of ethical theories and related philosophical issues, it is useful to have access to:

Edward Craig (ed.), The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Routledge, 2000)

Ted Honderich (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (OUP, 1995)

Many of the classical texts mentioned in this book are available in paperback. There are also a number of anthologies, including:

O A Johnson, Ethics: Selections from Classical and Contemporary Writers  (7th edition) (Wadsworth, 2003)

Other useful books include:

Robert L Arrington, Western Ethics: an historical introduction (Blackwell, 1998)

A J Ayer, ‘The Analysis of Moral Judgements’ in Philosophical Essays (1959)

Ray Billington, Living Philosophy: an introduction to moral thought  (3^rd Edition, Routledge, 2003)

Simon Blackburn, Being Good: An Introduction to Ethics (OUP, 2001)

Simon Blackburn, Ruling Passions (Clarendon Press, 1998)

Colin Brown, Crash Course in Christian Ethics   (Hodder & Stoughton 1998)

Steven M Cahn (ed.), Classics of Western Philosophy (4^th edition) (Hackett Publishing Inc., 1995)

T L Carson and P K Moser (ed.), Morality and the Good Life  (OUP USA, 1997)

R Crisp and M Slote (ed.), Virtue Ethics (OUP, 1997)

Jonathan Glover (ed.), Utilitarianism and its Critics  (Macmillan USA, 1990)

Jean Holme and John Bowker (ed.), Making Moral Decisions  (Cassell, 1994)

Ted Honderich, How Free are You? (OUP, 2002)

Alasdair MacIntyre, A Short History of Ethics (2^nd edition) (Routledge, 2002)

Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue  (Duckworth, 1982)

Mackie J L, Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong  (Penguin, 1977)

Anne Maclean, The Elimination of Morality (Routledge, 1993)

Iris Murdoch, Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals (OUP, 1994)

Iris Murdoch, The Sovereignty of Good  (Routledge Classics, 2001)

L P Pojman, Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong (Wadsworth, 2001)

James Rachels, The Elements of Moral Philosophy (2^nd edition) (McGraw-Hill, 1995)

Peter Singer (ed.), A Companion to Ethics (Blackwell 1991)

Peter Singer, How are we to live?: Ethics in an Age of Self-interest  (Mandarin, 1995)

JJC Smart and Bernard Williams, Utilitarianism: For and Against  (CUP, 1973)

J P Sterba (ed.), Ethics: the big questions (Blackwell, 1998)

Avrum Stroll, Did my Genes Make Me Do It? (Oneworld, 2004)

Nigel Warburton, Philosophy: The Classics (3^rd edition) (Routledge, 2006)

Mary Warnock, An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Ethics (Duckworth 1998)

A list of classic texts on ethics is given on the Ethics page of the Philosophy and Ethics website.

1. Introduction

            1 Four basic approaches

            2 An historical perspective

            3 The challenge of ethics

Revision checklist / study guide

2. Ethical Arguments

            1  Presenting an ethical argument

            2 Justifying your views

3 Theory and practice

            4 Rights and responsibilities

5 The absolute and the relative

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3. What makes Morality Possible?

            1 Three basic requirements

            2 Causes and conditioning

            3 How free do I need to be?

            4 Is and ought

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4. Moral Language

            1 Some ethical terms

            2 Can moral claims be justified?

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5. Plato and the Quest for Justice

            1 Introduction

            2 The Republic

            3 The ideal ruler

            4 The account of the cave

            5 The ideal state

            6 Why is it better to be just than unjust?

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6. Aristotle and Happiness

            1 The quest for eudaimonia

            2 The mean

            3 The Epicureans

            4 The Stoics

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7. Aquinas and Natural Law

            1 Two approaches to Christian morality

            2 Final Causes

            3 Features of Natural Law

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8. On What Should Morality be Based?

            1 Self interest?

2 Thomas Hobbes

            3 John Locke

            4 Jean-Jacques Rousseau

            5 Modern contract and rights-based approaches

            6 Emotions?

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9. Utilitarianism

            1 Jeremy Bentham

            2 John Stuart Mill

3 Preference and motive utilitarianism

4 Utilitarianism in practice

5 Criticisms of utilitarianism

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10. Kant and Moral Choice

            1 A sense of moral obligation

            2 The Good Will

            3 The background to Kant’s moral theory

4 The Postulates: freedom, God and immortality

            5 The Categorical Imperative

            6 Absolute or relative?

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11. Morality and Power

            1 Introduction

            2 God is dead

            3 Willing the Superman

            4 Master morality and slave morality

            5 The threat of the Christian ascetic

            6 The eternal recurrence

            7 A challenge and a problem

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12. An Existential Approach

            1 Introduction

            2 Søren Kierkegaard

3 Martin Heidegger

            4 Jean-Paul Sartre

            5 Simone de Beauvoir

6 Ethical implications of the existentialist approach

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13. Situation Ethics

            1 Introductions

            2 The meaning of ‘love’

            3 Evaluating situation ethics

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14. Religion and Ethics

            1 Introductions

            2 The relationship between morality and religion

            3 Religious authority: the Divine Command theory of ethics

4 Ethics and the Religious Traditions

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15. Conscience

            1 A Christian view

            2 The secular conscience

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16. Virtue Ethics

            1 Background

2What are the virtues?

            3 Virtue ethics in Aristotle

            4 The revival of virtue ethics

5 Feminist ethics

6 The distinctiveness of virtue ethics

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Postscript: Where do we go from here?

Glossary

Timeline of Philosophers