Table of Contents

*=New to this Edition
Preface:
PART I. EMBRACING ETHICS
1. What Is Ethics?
Taking Care
Ethics as a Learning Experience
* Reading 1: C.P. Ellis, "It Was Almost Like Being Born Again"
Going Farther #1: Toward an Interpersonal Ethics
* Reading 2: Margaret Urban Walker, from "Moral Understandings"
Going Farther #2: Two Views of Ethics and Other Animals
Reading 3: Alice Walker, "Am I Blue?"
Reading 4: Ted Kerasote, from Bloodties: Nature, Culture, and the Hunt
2. Ethical Short-Circuits (and How to Avoid Them)
Flying by Instinct
Offhand Self-Justification
Dogmatism
Ethics and Diversity
Who Needs Ethics?
Going Farther #3: Ethics in Extraordinary Times?
* Reading 5: Rebecca Solnit, "By the Way, Your Home Is on Fire"
3. Ethics and Religion
An Approach to Religious Ethics
Let the Stories Be Stories
Thinking for Yourself
Reading: Jamal Rahman, "Making Peace with the Sword Verse"
PART II. MORAL VALUES
4. Taking Values Seriously
Moral Values Among Others
Attending to Values
Families of Moral Values
Notes on the Families
Going Farther #4: An Abortion Story
Reading 7: Rayna Rapp, "XYLO"
5. The Ethics of the Person
Valuing Persons
Reading 8: Philip Hallie, "Le Chambon"
Kant's Categorical Imperative
Reading 9: Immanuel Kant, From Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals
Rights and Persons
Reading 10: From The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Complications
Going Farther #5: Pornography and the Ethics of the Person
* Reading 11: Gloria Steinem, from "Erotica vs. Pornography"
Going Farther #6: Inside Racism Today
* Reading 12: Ta-Nehisi Coates, From "A Letter to My Son"
6. The Ethics of Happiness
Happiness
* Reading 13: Barbara Frederickson, From Positivity
Utilitarianism
Reading 14: John Stuart Mill, From Utilitarianism
* Reading 15: Esperanza Guisán, "An Ethic of Liberty and Solidarity"
Complications
Going Farther #7: Ethics and Conceptions of Justice
Going Farther #8: A Utilitarian Approach to Poverty
7. The Ethics of Virtue
An Abundance of Virtues
A Greek View of Virtue
Reading 16: Aristotle, From Nicomachean Ethics
Chinese Views of Virtue
Reading 17: Lao Tzu, From the Tao Te Ching
Cultivating Virtue
Reading 18: John Sullivan, From Living Large
Complications
8. The Ethics of Relationship
Care Ethics
Reading 19: Nel Noddings, From Caring
Ethics and Community
The Expanding Circle
Reading 20: Aldo Leopold, From "The Land Ethic"
Complications
Going Farther 9: Building a Student Code of Ethics
* Reading 21: Brook J. Sadler, "What's Wrong with Plagiarism?"
Going Farther #10: Values on the Edge?
Reading 22: Edward Abbey, "The Great American Desert"
PART III. SKILLS FOR ETHICAL PRACTICE
9. Minding the Evidence
Facts and Sources
Generalizations
Reading 23: Martin Fowler, From The Ethical Practice of Critical Thinking
More Pitfalls
Quick Reference: Critical-Thinking Basics:
10. Judging Like Cases Alike
Consistency is a Challenge
Achieving Consistency
The Golden Rule
* Reading 24: Harry Gensler, From Ethics and the Golden Rule
Constructed Analogies
* Reading 25: Richard and Val Routley, "The Nuclear Train to the Future"
Quick Reference: Judging Like Cases Alike:
Going Farther #11: Reconsidering Other Animals: Consistency Challenges for Everyone
* Reading 26: Jonathan Safran Foer, "A Case for Eating Dogs"
* Reading 27: Rhys Southan, From "The Vegans Have Landed"
Going Farther #12: Children's Liberation?
* Reading 28: Amy Glaser, "Beyond Adultism"
11. Dialogue
How to Have a Fruitless Debate
How to Have a Useful Discussion
Reading 29: Mary Jacksteit and Adrienne Kaufmann, The Common Ground Network for Life and Choice, "Common Ground Rules"
Reading 30: Spoma Jovanovic, "Deepening Ethical Dialogue"
Quick Reference: Ethical Dialogue:
12. When Values Clash
Right Versus Right
What Is Each Side Right About?
Bringing Values into Congruence
Big Decisions
Reading 31: Roger Gottlieb, "Can We Talk? Understanding the 'Other Side' in the Animal Rights Debates"
Quick Reference: When Values Clash:
Going Farther #13: Class Ethical Commitments
13. Creative Problem-Solving
A Feeling for Possibility
Creative Explorations
Creative Provocations
Reframing Problems
Quick Reference: Methods for Creative Problem-Solving in Ethics:
Going Farther #14: Can the Abortion Debate be Reframed?
Going Farther #15: Where Ethics Meets Politics
14. Moral Vision
What is Moral Vision?
The Uses of Moral Vision
Toward a New Vision of Aging
Reading 32: Bill Thomas, "Eldertopia" (From What Are Old People For?)
* Reading 33: Ursula K. LeGuin, "The Space Crone"
Quick Reference: Moral Vision:
Going Farther #16: Ethics and Sustainability
* Reading 34: William McDonough, "Design for a New World"
RESOURCES
Eight Maxims for Making a Difference
1. You Can Do It
* Reading 35: Danusha Goska, "Living Ideals"
2. There Are Many Ways
* Reading 36: Ian Frazier, from On the Rez
3. Trust in Better Possibilities
4. Keep At It
* Reading 37: Maggie Castor, "Malala"
5. Creative Leveraging
6. Stay Open to Complexity
7. There Is No Way to Ethics; Ethics Is the Way
* Reading 38: Sarah van Gelder, "At Standing Rock, a Sense of Purpose
8. Bring Your Whole Toolbox
Going Farther #17: Personal Ethical Mission Statements, by Nim Batchelor
Going Farther #18: Ethical Change Projects
Endnotes: Teaching Like a Pragmatist:
Key Terms in This Book:
Major Ethical Issues Discussed:
Index:

About the Author

Anthony Weston is Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies at Elon University. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including Mobilizing the Green Imagination (2012) and A Practical Companion to Ethics, Fourth Edition (OUP, 2010).

Reviews

"Weston's A 21st Century Ethical Toolbox is one of a kind: it radically approaches ethics and critical thinking from the perspective of everyday experience, value, and problem solving. It provides a diverse array of selections from within and without the traditional philosophical canon."--Albert R. Spencer, Portland State University
"Weston stands above the competition because of his emphasis on developing practical skills for navigating a complex, interrelated world. He includes a wide range of ethical approaches--from Kant to the Lakota to Confucius--and provides the best range of exercises and pedagogical devices that I have seen."--Tayo Basquiat, Bismarck State College
"I believe that A 21st Century Ethical Toolbox is far and away the most significant primary ethics textbook that I can select for the lives of the students who enroll in my course."--James H. VanderMey, Mid Michigan Community College
"A 21st Century Ethical Toolbox is superbly written, passionate, and poignant, and savvy about contemporary values."--Frank Ryan, Kent State University
"This is a comprehensive, wide-ranging, and erudite book that students will find accessible, interesting, and intellectually challenging. It covers all the topics and thinkers that need to be there (Kant, Utilitarianism, etc.) and some that are less standard but that enrich the ways our students can think about ethics."--Anna Peterson, University of Florida