The Moral of the Story: An Introduction to Ethics / Edition 7

by Nina Rosenstand

Overview

Now in its seventh edition, The Moral of the Story continues to bring understanding to difficult concepts in moral philosophy through storytelling and story analysis. Students will study ethical relativism by examining the film Avatar, explore utilitarianism through The Invention of Lying, and discuss Kant’s deontology by examining Woody Allen’s Match Point. They will consider virtue ethics by juxtaposing Plato’s “Myth of the Cave” with the themes in The Truman Show. Rosenstand’s work is lively and relatable, and students will enjoy discussing examples from contemporary film, fiction narratives, and even popular comic strips.
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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780078038426
Publisher:	McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Publication date:	04/13/2012
Edition description:	List
Pages:	816
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

Table of Contents

Preface x

Acknowledgments xv

Part 1 The Story as a Tool of Ethics

Chapter 1 Thinking About Values 1

Do We Need a Code of Ethics? 1

Values, Morals, and Ethics 3

Good and Evil 7

Debating Moral Issues from Religion to Neurobiology and Storytelling 14

Martha Nussbaum: Stories, Ethics, and Emotions 24

A Philosophical Example, a Real-Life Event, and Two Fictional Stories about Lying 27

Primary Reading: Martha Nussbaum, Love's Knowledge 31

Primary Reading: Philip Zimbardo, The Lucifer Effect 33

Narrative: Smoke Signals 36

Narrative: Big Fish 39

Narrative: East of Eden 43

Chapter 2 Learning Moral Lessons from Stories 50

Didactic Stories 50

The New Interest in Stories Across the Professions 51

The Value of Stories Across Time and Space 54

Are Stories Harmful? A New and Ancient Debate 88

Primary Reading: Plato, Republic, Book X 97

Primary Reading: Aristode, Poetics 101

Primary Reading: Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose 103

Primary Reading: Raymond Chandler, "The Simple Art of Murder" 105

Narrative: Medea 107

Narrative: The Sorrows of Young Weather 111

Narrative: The Education of Mingo 112

Narrative: Pulp Fiction 116

Part 2 What Should I Do? Ethics of Conduct

Chapter 3 Ethical Relativism 119

How to Deal with Moral Differences 119

The Lessons of Anthropology 124

Problems with Ethical Relativism 129

Refuting Ethical Relativism 139

James Rachels and Soft Universalism 141

Ethical Relativism and Multiculturalism 146

Primary Reading: Ruth Benedict, "Anthropology and the Abnormal" 151

Primary Reading: James Rachels, "Is Ethics Just a Matter of Social Conventions?" 154

Primary Reading: John Steinbeck, "Paradox and Dream" 158

Narrative: The Poisonwood Bible 159

Narrative: Possessing the Secret of Joy 165

Narrative: Avatar 168

Chapter 4 Myself or Others? 171

Psychological Egoism: What About the Heroes? 171

Psychological Egoism: From Glaucon to Hobbes 174

Three Major Problems With Psychological Egoism 183

The Selfish-Gene Theory and Its Critics 188

Ethical Egoism and Ayn Rand's Objectivism 192

Being Selfless: Levinas's Ideal Altruism Versus Singer's Reciprocal Altruism 200

A Natural Fellow-Feeling? Hume and de Waal 204

Primary Reading: Plato, The Republic 210

Primary Reading: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan 214

Primary Reading: Ayn Rand, "The Ethics of Emergencies" 215

Primary Reading: Frans De Waal, Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved 218

Narrative: Friends episode: "The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS" 220

Narrative: Return to Paradise 223

Narrative: Atlas Shrugged 226

Chapter 5 Using Your Reason, Part 1: Utilitarianism 231

Jeremy Bentham and the Hedonistic Calculus 232

Advantages and Problems of Sheer Numbers: From Animal Welfare to the Question of Torture 241

John Stuart Mill: Higher and Lower Pleasures 247

Mill's Harm Principle 254

Act and Rule Utilitarianism 260

Primary Reading: Jeremy Bentham, "Of the Principle of Utility" 263

Primary Reading: John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism 265

Primary Reading: Peter Singer, "A Convenient Truth" 268

Narrative: "The Blacksmith and the Baker" 271

Narrative: The Brothers Karamazov 272

Narrative: "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" 274

Narrative: Extreme Measures 275

Narrative: The Invention of Lying 278

Chapter 6 Using Your Reason, Part 2: Kant's Deontology 282

Consequences Don't Count-Having a Good Will Does 282

The Categorical Imperative 285

Rational Beings Are Ends in Themselves 295

Beings Who Are Things 298

The Kingdom of Ends 302

Primary Reading: Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals 304

Primary Reading: Immanuel Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals 305

Narrative: High Noon 308

Narrative: 3:10 to Yuma 310

Narrative: Abandon Ship! 314

Narrative: Match Point 316

Chapter 7 Personhood, Rights, and justice 320

What Is a Human Being? 320

The Expansion of the Concept "Human" 321

Personhood: The Key to Rights 321

Science and Moral Responsibility: Genetic Engineering, Stem Cell Research, and Cloning 327

Questions of Rights and Equality 337

Distributive Justice: From Rawls to Affirmative Action 348

Forward- and Backward-Looking Justice and Affirmative Action 352

Criminal Justice: Restorative Versus Retributive Justice 355

Primary Reading: The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights 363

Primary Reading: Jürgen Habermas, The Future of Human Nature 366

Primary Reading: John Rawls, "Justice as Fairness" 368

Primary Reading: Martin Luther King, Jr., "A Letter from Birmingham Jail" 371

Primary Reading: John Berteaux, "Defining Racism in the 21st Century" 373

Primary Reading: John Berteaux, "Unseen, Unheard, Unchosen" 375

Narrative: The Island 376

Narrative: Gattaca 380

Narrative: Mississippi Burning 383

Narrative: Hotel Rwanda 386

Part 3 How Should I Be? Virtue Ethics

Chapter 8 Virtue Ethics from Tribal Philosophy to Socrates and Plato 391

What Is Virtue? What Is Character? 391

Non-Western Virtue Ethics: Africa and Indigenous America 392

Virtue Ethics in the West 396

The Good Teacher: Socrates' Legacy, Plato's Works 398

The Good Life 406

The Virtuous Person: The Tripartite Soul 408

Plato's Theory of Forms 412

Plato's Influence on Christianity 417

Primary Reading: Plato, The Republic 418

Primary Reading: Plato, Apology 421

Primary Reading: Ronald Dworkin, What Is a GoodLife? 425

Narrative: A Man for All Seasons 428

Narrative: "The Myth of the Cave" 431

Narrative: The Truman Show 434

Narrative: The Store of the Worlds 437

Chapter 9 Aristotle's Virtue Theory: Everything in Moderation 440

Empirical Knowledge and the Realm of the Senses 440

Aristode the Scientist 441

Aristode's Virtue Theory: Teleology and the Golden Mean 444

Aristode's Influence on Aquinas 459

Some Objections to Greek Virtue Theory 460

Primary Reading: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book II 463

Primary Reading: Aristode, Nicomachean Ethics, Book III 466

Narrative: "The Flight of Icarus" 468

Narrative: Njal's Saga 470

Narrative: Lord Jim 472

Narrative: "A Piece of Advice" 474

Chapter 10 Contemporary Perspectives 477

Ethics and the Morality of Virtue as Political Concepts 477

Have Virtue, and Then Go Ahead: Mayo, Foot, and Sommers 481

The Quest for Authenticity: Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, and Levinas 490

Primary Reading: Søren Kierkegaard, Johannes Climacus 519

Primary Reading: Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or 520

Primary Reading: Jean-Paul Sartre, "Existentialism Is a Humanism" 521

Primary Reading: "The Paradox of Morality: An Interview with Emmanuel Levinas" 523

Primary Reading: Dwight Furrow, A Culture of Care 526

Narrative: Groundhog Day 529

Narrative: No Exit 531

Narrative: Good Will Hunting 533

Narrative: The Searchers 537

Chapter 11 Case Studies in Virtue 541

Courage of the Physical and Moral Kind 541

Compassion: From Hume to Huck Finn 549

Gratitude: Asian Tradition and Western Modernity 559

Virtue and Conduct: The Option of Soft Universalism 575

Diversity, Politics, and Common Ground? 578

Primary Reading: John McCain, Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life 581

Primary Reading: Philip Hallie, Tales of Good and Evil, Help and Harm 584

Primary Reading: Jesse Prinz, Js Empathy Necessary for Morality? 585

Primary Reading: Lin Yutang, "On Growing Old Gracefully" 589

Narrative: Courage: Band of Brothers, Third Episode, "Carentan" 590

Narrative: Courage: True Grit 592

Narrative: Compassion: "The Parable of the Good Samaritan" 596

Narrative: Compassion: Schindler's List 598

Narrative: Gratitude: Eat Drink Man Woman 601

Narrative: Gratitude: Pay It Forward 604

Chapter 12 Different Gender, Different Ethics? 608

Feminism and Virtue Theory 608

What Is Gender Equality? 610

Women's Historical Role in the Public Sphere 613

The Rise of Modern Feminism 619

Classical, Difference, and Radical Feminism 625

Primary Reading: Harriet Taylor Mill, "Enfranchisement of Women" 642

Primary Reading: Simone De Beauvoir, The Second Sex 645

Primary Reading: Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice 648

Narrative: A Doll's House 650

Narrative: Maids of Misfortune 655

Narrative: "The Woman Destroyed" 658

Narrative: A Thousand Splendid Suns 661

Chapter 13 Applied Ethics: A Sampler 665

The Question of Abortion and Personhood 665

Euthanasia as a Right to Choose? 668

Media Ethics and Media Bias 671

Business Ethics: The Rules of the Game 681

Just War Theory 688

Animal Welfare and Animal Rights 694

Ethics of the Environment: Think Globally, Act Locally 701

The Death Penalty 707

The Ethics of Self-Improvement: Narrative Identity 716

A Final Word 724

Primary Reading: Andrew Belsey and Ruth Chadwick, "Ethics as a Vehicle for Media Quality" 726

Primary Reading: Amber Levanon Seligson and Laurie Choi, "Critical Elements of an Organizational Ethical Culture" 728

Primary Reading: Scott Gottlieb, "How Safe Is Our Food? FDA Could Do Better" 729

Primary Reading: John Rawls, The Law of Peoples 731

Primary Reading: Great Ape Project, "The Declaration on Great Apes" 734

Primary Reading: Lee Hall and Anthony Jon Waters, "From Property to Person: The Case of Evelyn Hart" 735

Primary Reading: Severin Carrell, "Al Gore: Clear Proof That Climate Change Causes Extreme Weather" 737

Primary Reading: Myles Allen, "Al Gore is Doing a Disservice to Science by Overplaying the Link Between Climate Change and Weather" 739

Primary Reading: Tom Sorell, "Two Ideals and the Death Penalty" 741

Primary Reading: Mark Fuhrman, Death and Justice: An Exposé of Oklahoma's Death Row Machine 744

Narrative: Media Ethics/Business Ethics: State of Play 748

Narrative: Business Ethics: The Insider 750

Narrative: Business Ethics/Environmental Ethics: Cold Wind 753

Narrative: The Death Penalty: "The Jigsaw Man" 756

Narrative: The Death Penalty: The Life of David Gale 758

Credits C-1

Bibliography B-1

Glossary G-1

Index I-1