Ethical Theory: Classical and Contemporary Readings

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This is a very useful anthology: it is broad in scope, and, when one considers the number of issues broached, its coverage of the most central issues in philosophical ethics is often surprisingly deep.Pojman's appears to have had three primary objectives in editing this anthology: (i) to provide an overview of the main positions in normative ethics, (ii) to provide an overview of some of the main issues in meta-ethics, and (iii) to present discussions of a few traditional questions about morality (e.g. Does morality conflict with self-interest? Do moral truths require the existence of God? Do we need a robust sort of free will in order to be morally responsible for what we do?). The book covers what are currently taken to be the big three positions in normative ethics: utilitarianism (and consequentialism more generally), deontology, and virtue ethics. (There's no section on contractualism/contractarianism, though there are selections from Gauthier, Harman, Hobbes, and Kant. So some of the relevant literature is present here.) These sections include a few papers defending each position, a few papers criticizing them, and in some cases responses to those criticisms. Of the three sections, the one on utilitarianism is the best and most comprehensive. The sections on deontology and virtue ethics are less comprehensive, but they're still good enough to provide an introduction to those positions and some significant objections to them.The book's coverage of issues in meta-ethics is perhaps better than its coverage of issues in normative ethics. Pojman has included sections on several issues in meta-ethics, including relativism, the nature of value, realism vs. antirealism, and a section on positions on the fact/value distinction. This last section serves two distinct purposes: it introduces the debate between cognitivists and noncognitivists, and it provides a brief outline of the history of twentieth-century meta-ethical debate. The section begins with some passages from Hume's treatise concerning the respective roles of reason and emotion in ethics, it then covers several of the most important and influential positions in twentieth-century meta-ethics: Moore's intuitionist non-naturalism is represented by some passages from Principia in which he presents the Open Question Argument; Ayer's emotivism is represented by his defense of that position in Language, Truth, and Language; Hare's prescriptivism is presented in a short introductory to his views; and the naturalistic rejoinder to these meta-ethical views is represented by some work of Geoffrey Warnock.The section on the realism/anti-realism debate is centered on contemporary work. This section doesn't include anything from contemporary defenders of noncognitivism; instead, it is set up as a debate between cognitivists who defend realism and those who defend anti-realism. This section includes classic anti-realist arguments from Mackie, Harman, and Williams along with responses

Pojman takes a variety of selections from opposing viewpoints to create a well-balanced text that serves as an excellent resource for an introductory philosophy or ethics class. Includes sources from early classical philosophers to contemporary authors.