Table of Contents

PrefaceAbout the Fourth EditionCHAPTER 1: WHAT IS MORALITY?The Problem of DefinitionFirst Example: Baby TheresaSecond Example: Jodie and MaryThird Example: Tracy LatimerReason and ImpartialityThe Minimum Conception of MoralityCHAPTER 2: THE CHALLENGE OF CULTURAL RELATIVISMHow Different Societies Have Different Moral CodesCultural RelativismThe Cultural Differences ArgumentThe Consequences of Taking Cultural Relativism SeriouslyWhy There is Less Disagreement than it SeemsHow All Cultures Have Some Values in CommonJudging a Cultural Practice to be UndesirableWhat Can be Learned from Cultural RelativismCHAPTER 3: SUBJECTIVISM IN ETHICSThe Basic Idea of Ethical SubjectivismThe Evolution of the TheoryThe First Stage: Simple SubjectivismThe Second Stage: EmotivismAre There Any Moral Facts?Are There Proofs in Ethics?The Question of HomosexualityCHAPTER 4: DOES MORALITY DEPEND ON RELIGION?The Presumed Connection Between Morality and ReligionThe Divine Command TheoryThe Theory of Natural LawReligion and Particular Moral IssuesCHAPTER 5: PSYCHOLOLOGICAL EGOISMIs Unselfishness Possible?The Strategy of Reinterpreting MotivesTwo Arguments in Favor of Psychological EgoismClearing Away Some ConfusionsThe Deepest Error in Psychological EgoismCHAPTER 6: ETHICAL EGOISMIs There a Duty to Help Starving People?Three Arguments in Favor of Ethical EgoismThree Arguments Against Ethical EgoismCHAPTER 7: THE UTILITARIAN APPROACHThe Revolution in EthicsFirst Example: EuthanasiaSecond Example: Nonhuman AnimalsCHAPTER 8: THE DEBATE OVER UTILITARIANISMThe Classical Version of the TheoryIs Happiness the Only Thing That Matters?Are Consequences All That Matter?Should We be Equally Concerned for Everyone?The Defense of UtilitarianismCHAPTER 9: ARE THERE ANY ABSOLUTE MORAL RULES?Harry Truman and Elizabeth AnscombeThe Categorical ImperativeAbsolute Rules and the Duty Not to LieConflicts Between RulesAnother Look at Kant's Basic IdeaCHAPTER 10: KANT AND RESPECT FOR PERSONSThe Idea of Human DignityRetribution and Utility in the Theory of PunishmentKant's RetributivismCHAPTER 11: THE IDEA OF A SOCIAL CONTRACTHobbes's ArgumentThe Prisoner's DilemmaSome Advantages of the Social Contract Theory of MoralsThe Problem of Civil DisobedienceCHAPTER 12: FEMINISM AND THE ETHICS OF CAREDo Women and Men Think Differently About Ethics?Implications for Moral JudgmentImplications for Ethical TheoryCHAPTER 13: THE ETHICS OF VIRTUEThe Ethics of Virtue and the Ethics of Right ActionThe VirtuesSome Advantages of Virtue EthicsThe Problem of IncompletenessCHAPTER 14: WHAT WOULD A SATISFACTORY MORAL THEORY BE LIKE?Morality Without HubrisTreating People as They Deserve and Other MotivesMultiple-Strategies UtilitarianismThe Moral CommunityJustice and FairnessConclusionSuggestions for Further ReadingNotes on SourcesIndex

About the Author

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 career. 1971 saw the publication of Rachels groundbreaking textbook Moral Problems, which ignited the movement in America away from teaching ethical theory towards teaching concrete practical issues. Moral Problems sold 100,000 copies over three editions. In 1975, Rachels wrote Active and Passive Euthanasia, arguing that the distinction so important in the law between killing and letting die has no rational basis. Originally appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine, this essay has been reprinted roughly 300 times and is a staple of undergraduate education. The End of Life (1986) was about the morality of killing and the value of life. Created from Animals (1990) argued that a Darwinian world-view has widespread philosophical implications, including drastic implications for our treatment of nonhuman animals. Can Ethics Provide Answers? (1997) was Rachels first collection of papers (others are expected posthumously). Rachels McGraw-Hill textbook, The Elements of Moral Philosophy, is now in its fourth edition and is easily the best-selling book of its kind.Over his career, Rachels wrote 5 books and 85 essays, edited 7 books and gave about 275 professional lectures. His work has been translated into Dutch, Italian, Japanese, and Serbo-Croatian. James Rachels is widely admired as a stylist, as his prose is remarkably free of jargon and clutter. A major theme in his work is that reason can resolve difficult moral issues. He has given reasons for moral vegetarianism and animal rights, for affirmative action (including quotas), for the humanitarian use of euthanasia, and for the idea that parents owe as much moral consideration to other peoples children as they do to their own. James Rachels died of cancer on September 5th, 2003, in Birmingham, Alabama.