Cengage Advantage Books: Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong

Louis P. Pojman, James Fieser

Cengage Learning, Feb 12, 2008 - Education - 256 pages

Study ethics from one of the classic texts, written by one of contemporary philosophy’s most skilled teachers, Louis P. Pojman, and now revised by best-selling author and editor of the INTERNET ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHILOSOPHY, James Fieser. ETHICS: DISCOVERING RIGHT AND WRONG, Sixth Edition, provides you with a concise yet comprehensive overview of the fundamental objectives and outlooks of ethical theory. Written in a conversational manner with strong learning aids and numerous classical and contemporary examples, this book teaches you how to develop your own moral theories and competently reason through ethical problems for yourself. The text even-handedly raises critical questions with its non-dogmatic style and generous presentation of various positions. This edition offers more feminist as well as multicultural ethical perspectives. Initial chapters discuss general concerns about meta-ethics before presenting major moral theories. Later chapters address special topics in personal and religious ethics as well as the most recent developments in moral theory. A helpful appendix teaches how to write ethics papers, while study questions for each chapter and useful bibliographies further assist you in review and additional exploration of topics. A companion website offers additional support with essay questions and numerous interactive learning aids.
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Contents

• What Is Ethics?: 1
• Ethical Relativism: 14
• Moral Objectivism: 30
• Value and the Quest for the Good: 46
• Social Contract Theory and the Motive to Be Moral: 64
• Egoism SelfInterest and Altruism: 81
• Utilitarianism: 100
• Kant and Deontological Theories: 121
• Virtue Theory: 146
• Religion and Ethics: 170
• The FactValue Problem: 188
• Moral Realism and the Challenge of Skepticism: 209
• How to Read and Write a Philosophy Paper: 224
• Glossary: 228
• Index: 233

About the author

Louis P. Pojman (1935-2005) was Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at the United States Military Academy and a Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University. He received an M.A. and Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary/Columbia University. He was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Copenhagen and a Rockefeller Fellow at Hamburg University. He received his D.Phil. in Philosophy from Oxford University in 1997.His first position was at the University of Notre Dame, after which he taught at the University of Texas at Dallas. Later, at the University of Mississippi, he served for three years as Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion. In 1995, he became Professor of Philosophy at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He most recently was Visiting Professor at Brigham Young University in Utah and Visiting Fellow at Clare Hall, Oxford University. Pojman won several research and teaching awards, including the Burlington Northern Award for Outstanding Teaching and Scholarship (1988) and the Outstanding Scholar/Teacher in the Humanities at the University of Mississippi (1994). He wrote in the areas of philosophy of religion, epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy and authored or edited more than 30 books and 100 articles. Louis Pojman passed away in 2005.

James Fieser is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tennessee at Martin. He received his B.A. from Berea College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from Purdue University. He is author, co-author, or editor of ten textbooks, including SOCRATES TO SARTRE AND BEYOND (9/e 2011), ETHICAL THEORY: CLASSICAL AND CONTEMPORARY READINGS (6/e 2010), A HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY (2003), and MORAL PHILOSOPHY THROUGH THE AGES (2001). He has edited and annotated the ten-volume EARLY RESPONSES TO HUME (2/e 2005) and the five-volume SCOTTISH COMMON SENSE PHILOSOPHY (2000). He is founder and general editor of the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy website (http://www.iep.utm.edu).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Cengage Advantage Books: Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong; Cengage Advantage Books; Cengage learning
• Authors: Louis P. Pojman, James Fieser
• Edition: 6, revised
• Publisher: Cengage Learning, 2008
• ISBN: 0495502359, 9780495502357
• Length: 256 pages
• Subjects: Education / Teaching Methods & Materials / General