For students at AS/A2 level,
notes are available from my lectures
on the following:
Virtue Ethics
Natural Law Ethics
Abortion and Euthanasia
Conscience
Aristotle and Virtue Ethics
The Ethics of War
Sexual Morality: Christian demands and modern attitudes
Meta-ethics
Jeremy Bentham
Utilitarianism
Ethical Theory
Teach
Yourself: Ethics
Introduction to Philosophy and Ethics
In my view, one of the best ways of
getting into ethics is simply to read, listen and take a view on
the big issues of the day - but to do so while reflecting on
your own presuppositions and the way in which you make your
moral judgements.
Books can help with that process, by
introducing basic ethical theories and by helping to show their
relevance to present issues. There are thousands of books, both
on ethical theory and on particular moral issues. But where to
start? Peter Singer is always worth
reading, whether or not you agree with his generally utilitarian
views. Neglected, but utterly relevant, are the works of Iris
Murdoch, particularly The Sovereignty of Good, but also
her Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals. And there are
accessible and lively introductions to Ethics from Blackburn,
Pojman, Warnock and others, as well as sections on ethics in
most of the major introductions to philosophy.
Here is a small selection of
useful titles...
Robert L Arrington,
Western Ethics: an historical introduction (Blackwell, 1998)
Ray Billington, Living
Philosophy: an introduction to moral thought (3rd
Edition, Routledge, 2003)
Simon Blackburn, Being
Good: An Introduction to Ethics (OUP, 2001)
Simon Blackburn,
Ruling Passions (Clarendon Press, 1998)
Ted Honderich, How
Free are You? (OUP, 2002)
Alasdair MacIntyre, A
Short History of Ethics (2nd edition) (Routledge,
2002)
Mackie J L, Ethics:
Inventing Right and Wrong (Penguin, 1977)
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 (2nd 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)
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 (3rd edition) (Routledge,
2006)
Mary Warnock, An
Intelligent Person’s Guide to Ethics (Duckworth 1998)
Starting with the
classics...
The best discussions of moral
issues are informed by great thinkers of the past who
have developed and expounded ethical theories, and have
applied them to the issues of their day. Here are some
of the classic texts for anyone wanting to deepen their
appreciation of ethics. Many are available in cheap
editions:
Where to start? Plato,
Aristotle, Mill and Nietzsche would be my suggestion.
Aristotle, Nicomachean
Ethics (Dover Publications, 1998)
A J Ayer, Language,
Truth and Logic (Penguin Classics, 2001)
Jeremy Bentham, An
Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation
(Prometheus Books, 1988)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
Ethics (Pocket Books, 1995)
F H Bradley, Ethical
Studies (Clarendon Press, 1962)
Epictetus (trans. George
Long), Enchiridion (Dover
Publications, 2004)
R M Hare, Freedom and
Reason (Oxford
Paperbacks, 1965
R M Hare,
The
Language of Morals (Oxford Paperbacks, 1964)
Thomas Hobbes,
Leviathan (Oxford World Classics, 1998)
David Hume, Treatise
on Human Nature (Penguin, 1986)
Immanuel Kant,
Critique of Practical Reason (CUP, 1997)
Immanuel Kant,
Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (CUP, 1998)
Søren Kierkegaard (trans.
Alastair Hannay), Either / Or (Penguin Classics, 1992)
John Locke, Treatises
of Government (CUP, 1998)
John Stuart Mill,
Utilitarianism (OUP, 1998)
G E Moore, Principia
Ethica (CUP, 1993)
Friedrich Nietzsche,
On the Genealogy of Morals (Dover Publications,
2003)
Friedrich Nietzsche,
Beyond Good and Evil (Penguin, 1990)
Plato, The Republic
(Penguin, 2003)
H A Pritchard, Moral
Obligation ((OUP, 1963)
John Rawls, A Theory
of Justice (revised edition) (OUP, 1999)
W D Ross, The
Foundations of Ethics (OUP, 2000)
W D Ross,
The Right and the Good
(Clarendon Press, 2002)
Jean-Paul Sartre,
Existentialism and Human Emotions (Citadel Press, 1984)
Henry Sidgwick, Essays
on Ethics and Methods (Clarendon Press, 2000)
C L Stevenson, Ethics
and Language (Yale UP)
Paul Tillich, Morality
and Beyond (Westminster John Knox Press,
2004)
