Ethical Theory, 3rd edition
Access to Religion and Philosophy Series
By Mel Thompson
August 2008
Hodder Education
Distrubuted by Trans-Atlantic Publications Inc.
ISBN: 9780340957790
165 pages
$29.50 Paper Original
Summary:
The third edition of Ethical Theory
has been updated in line with the revised A level specification requirements.
It provides an essential background to ethical issues through giving an outline
of major ethical theories and how these may be applied to a range of contemporary
moral issues.
The new edition combines all the strengths of the second edition with a new design and features to make the content more accessible to all students in order to develop their understanding of the topic. New features include: - Key questions throughout the chapters to help students focus on the key issues - Key terms defined and explained throughout the chapters - Profiles of key individuals - their contribution and significance - More summary diagrams throughout to aid revision - Photos and illustrations - Revision checklists at the end of chapters - New exam-style questions and tips at the end of each chapter.
- Redesigned to allow greater accessibility to a wide range of post-16 students.
- New features such as definitions, summaries and exam tips to aid students' understanding, revision and essay writing techniques.
- Updated to ensure relevant coverage of the revised 2008 A level specifications.
- In-depth coverage of specific issues to help students access higher grades.
Table of Contents:
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
Three basic views
3
Theory and practice
4
Rights and responsibilities
Revision
checklist / study guide
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
5
The absolute and the relative
Revision
checklist / study guide
4.
Moral Language
1
Some ethical terms
2
Can moral claims be justified?
Revision
checklist / study guide
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?
Revision
checklist / study guide
6.
Aristotle and Happiness
1
The quest for eudaimonia
2
The mean
3
The Epicureans
4
The Stoics
Revision
checklist / study guide
7. Aquinas
and Natural Law
1 Two approaches
to Christian morality
2 Final Causes
3 Features
of Natural Law
Revision
checklist / study guide
8. On What
Should Morality be Based?
1 Self-interest?
2 Thomas
Hobbes (1588 – 1679)
3 John Locke
(1632 – 1704)
4 Jean-Jacques
Rousseau (1712 – 1778)
5 Modern
contract and rights-based approaches
6 Emotions?
Revision
checklist / study guide
9. Utilitarianism
1 Jeremy
Bentham (1748 – 1832)
2 John Stuart
Mill (1806 – 1873)
3 Preference
and motive utilitarianism
4 Utilitarianism
in practice
5 Criticisms
of utilitarianism
Revision
checklist / study guide
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?
Revision
checklist / study guide
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
12. An Existential
Approach
1 Introduction
2 Soren Kierkegaard
(1813 – 55)
3 Martin Heidegger
(1889 – 1976)
4 Jean-Paul
Sartre (1905 – 80)
6 Simone de
Beauvoir (1908 – 86)
5 Ethical implications
of the existentialist approach
Revision checklist
/ study guide
13. Situation
Ethics
1 Introductions
2 The meaning
of ‘love’
3 Evaluating
situation ethics
Revision checklist
/ study guide
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
Revision checklist
/ study guide
15. Conscience
1 A Christian
view
2 The secular
conscience
Revision checklist
/ study guide
16. Virtue
Ethics
1 What are
the virtues?
2 Virtue ethics
in Aristotle
3 The revival
of virtue ethics
4 Feminist
ethics
5 The distinctiveness
of virtue ethics
Revision checklist
/ study guide
About the Author(s):
Mel Thompson is an experienced Religious
Studies and Philosophy author.
Return to main page of Trans-Atlantic Publications