The Good Life: Options in Ethics

by Burton F. Porter

Overview

A primer in ethics focusing on ultimate aims in living as proposed throughout philosophic history. Preliminary chapters cover the relation between ethics and science, religion, and psychology, as well as the challenge of relativism and determinism. The central section explores the ethical theories of hedonism, from the Greeks to the Utilitarians; self-realization, both of the individual and of our humanness, naturalism, including the Stoics and Transcendentalists; evolutionism as presented by both Darwin and Spencer; the ethic of duty of Immanuel Kant; religious systems including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism; virtue ethics in traditional and feminist forms; and existentialism from Nietzsche to Sartre. At various points, key concepts are introduced such as egoism and altruism, hard and soft determinism, deontology vs. teleology, and act and rule approaches to ethics. In addition, the 'standard of reasonableness' is discussed as a means of evaluating the ethical options.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742565449
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	10/16/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	265
File size:	336 KB

About the Author

Burton F. Porter is professor of philosophy at Western New England College in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

1 The Nature of Ethics
2 Free Will and Determinism
3 The Challenge of Relativism
4 Hedonism as the Good
5 Self-Realization
6 Following Nature
7 Evolutionism
8 The Ethic of Duty
9 Teachings of Western Religion
10 Ideals of Eastern Religion
11 Existentialism
12 Virtue Ethics
13 Afterword
14 A Dictionary of Ethical Terms

Editorial Reviews

Much more than a standard text on normative theories, this book lends itself to a thorough introductory examination of the field of ethics.. .. In particular, the evaluation discussions are excellent, as they draw attention to problems in the theories and arguments in a way that aids in teaching students to craft arguments themselves. Too many students think it is sufficient to disagree. The evaluation sections help focus how to critically examine a theory.

Stevens F. Wandmacher

The writing style of the text is, I think, appropriate for undergraduates as well as most graduate students. The style is clear, crisp, and avoids unnecessary and misleading verbiage.. .. [A] logically organized sequence of ‘obstructions’ to ethical theory by presenting the notions of egoism, determinism, and relativism early in the text.

Joseph F. Marino

Praise for the previous edition: A handy overview of moral theory. It is one of the strengths of the book that many different resources are drawn upon. Given the amount of material he tries to cover within a relatively modest compass, he sets himself thegoal of achieving brevity without sacrificing clarity, and in this he is successful....

Practical Philosophy