The Elements of Moral Philosophy

Preface About the Sixth Edition CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS MORALITY? 1.1. The Problem of Definition 1.2. First Example: Baby Theresa 1.3. Second Example: Jodie and Mary 1.4. Third Example: Tracy Latimer 1.5. Reason and Impartiality 1.6. The Minimum Conception of Morality CHAPTER 2: THE CHALLENGE OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM 2.1. Different Cultures Have Different Moral Codes 2.2. Cultural Relativism 2.3. The Cultural Differences Argument 2.4. What Follows from Cultural Relativism 2.5. Why There Is Less Disagreement Than It Seems 2.6. Some Values are Shared by All Cultures 2.7. Judging a Cultural Practice to Be Undesirable 2.8. Back to the Five Claims 2.9. What Can Be Learned from Cultural Relativism CHAPTER 3: SUBJECTIVISM IN ETHICS 3.1. The Basic Idea of Ethical Subjectivism 3.2. The Evolution of the Theory 3.3. The First Stage: Simple Subjectivism 3.4. The Second Stage: Emotivism 3.5. The Role of Reason in Ethics 3.6. Are There Proofs in Ethics? 3.7. The Question of Homosexuality CHAPTER 4: DOES MORALITY DEPEND ON RELIGION? 4.1. The Presumed Connection Between Morality and Religion 4.2. The Divine Command Theory 4.3. The Theory of Natural Law 4.4. Religion and Particular Moral Issues CHAPTER 5: ETHICAL EGOISM 5.1. Is There a Duty to Help Starving People? 5.2. Psychological Egoism 5.3. Three Arguments for Ethical Egoism 5.4. Three Arguments Against Ethical Egoism CHAPTER 6: THE IDEA OF A SOCIAL CONTRACT 6.1. Hobbes's Argument 6.2. The Prisoner's Dilemma 6.3. Some Advantages of the Social Contract Theory 6.4. The Problem of Civil Disobedience 6.5. Difficulties for the Theory CHAPTER 7: THE UTILITARIAN APPROACH 7.1. The Revolution in Ethics 7.2. First Example: Euthanasia 7.3. Second Example: Marijuana 7.4. Third Example: Nonhuman Animals CHAPTER 8: THE DEBATE OVER UTILITARIANISM 8.1. The Classical Version of the Theory 8.2. Is Pleasure All That Matters? 8.3. Are Consequences All That Matter? 8.4. Should We Be Equally Concerned for Everyone? 8.5. The Defense of Utilitarianism 8.6.

James Rachels , the distinguished American moral philosopher, was born in Columbus, Georgia, graduating from Mercer University in Macon in 1962. He received his Ph.D. in 1967 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He taught at the University of Richmond, New York University, the University of Miami, Duke University, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he spent the last twenty-six years of his caree. STUART RACHELS is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Alabama. He has revised several of James Rachels' books, including Problems from Philosophy (second edition, 2009) and The Right Thing to Do (fifth edition, 2010), which is the companion anthology to this book. Stuart won the United States Chess Championship in 1989, at the age of 20, and he is a Bronze Life Master at bridge. His website is www.jamesrachels.org/stuart.