A Concise Introduction To Ethics

A Concise Introduction to Ethics offers a condensed and exceptionally well-written introduction to the essential moral theories. Based on Russ Shafer-Landau's best-selling primer on ethical theory, The Fundamentals of Ethics, this briefer volume retains the longer one's content advantage over competing books by addressing issues that other texts omit, including the good life (value theory), natural law, and prima facie duties. It also incorporates discussion questions and case studies at the end of each chapter, giving students the opportunity to apply ethical theories to real-world moral problems. A perfect companion to Shafer-Landau's anthology, The Ethical Life, this volume's compact size and low price make A Concise Introduction to Ethics an ideal complement to any course where it is important that students understand moral theories.

In a field dominated by books that focus exclusively on the perspective of business in large corporations or that assume that business has a moral deficiency in need of reform, Al Gini and Alexei Marcoux offers students and business people alike a concise guide to what everyone ought to do when doing business. Where other books are organized topically, Gini and Marcoux look at the moral features of business that recur across topical areas, stressing the considerations that bear on business people whether they be corporate functionaries, principals in family businesses, or solo entrepreneurs who do it all, end to end. They present to students the essential concepts, ideas, and issues involved in ethics in business and emphasize the individual acting person and what it means to have character and integrity when doing business.

As the perfect companion to introduction to ethics courses, Dell'Olio and Simon's reader includes the most influential ethical theories without overwhelming the beginning student. It contains a variety of readings encompassing contemporary and classic philosophers, male and female perspectives of both Western and non-Western ethical traditions, and readings in both theoretical and applied ethics. Introduction to Ethics comprises of thirty-seven essays divided into nine chapters; the first chapter introduces the nature of moral theory with a brief account of the different moral theories that will follow in the text. Chapters 2 through 8 are each devoted to a particular moral theory with readings that represent the position and those who challenge it, accompanied by an application of the theory to a particular moral problem. Finally, chapter 9 offers readings in practical guidance on 'living a good life.' Each chapter has a brief introduction that provides an overview of the selection with pointers on what to note as the selection is read and concludes with a series of thought-provoking study questions and a selection for further reading making it easier for students to understand and appreciate their reading.

A comprehensive yet concise introduction to central topics, debates, and techniques of moral philosophy in the analytic tradition, this volume combines a thematic, issue-oriented format with rigorous standards of clarity and precision. Thomas introduces fundamental concepts and terms, proceeding through a step-by-step exploration of five general areas of debate: the specification of moral judgment; moral judgment and the moral standard; the justification of moral judgment; logic, reasoning, and moral judgment; and moral judgment and moral responsibility. Key historical and contemporary figures in moral philosophy, including Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Hume, Mill, Hare, Ross, Nagel, Foot, Stevenson, and Dancy, are used effectively as a means of examining the topics themselves.

This book examines the central questions of ethics through a study of the great ethical works of Western philosophy.

A Concise Introduction to Ethics is an abbreviated and simplified version of Russ Shafer-Landau's best-selling textbook/primer on ethical theory for the introduction to ethics and introduction to contemporary moral issues courses, The Fundamentals of Ethics. For many philosophy departments these ethics courses are their largest enrollment offerings, often fulfilling a university general education requirement. Shafer-Landau's The Fundamentals of Ethics has been the #1 selling ethics textbook for years primarily because it provides students with the clearest and most accessible explanations of ethical theories available. It is relatively brief, and yet quite comprehensive, covering more theories than the competing texts do but also presenting them in the most understandable way--the author has a direct conversation with the students. This book will be about 1/3 shorter than The Fundamentals of Ethics, while still maintaining its content advantage over competing books by including several areas of theory that others omit, including the good life (value theory), natural law, and prima facie duties. A Concise Introduction to Ethics will be based on the first part of Shafer-Landau's new OUP hybrid textbook/reader Living Ethics. The end of each chapter features several cases and discussion questions so students get opportunities to apply ethical theories to real-world moral issues and problems. Like its parent book, this volume can be paired with Shafer-Landau's reader The Ethical Life, which includes key reading selections from ethical theory and essays on contemporary moral problems. It can also accompany any reader on ethics or contemporary moral issues.

Clearly written, and replete with design elements that facilitate study and review, the Concise Guide to Paralegal Ethics provides succinct coverage that focuses on the professional paralegal. Perfect for use in shorter courses, or substantive courses with an ethics component, the Fifth Edition provides timely and thorough coverage of all major legal ethics topics. New to the Fifth Edition: Discussion of how the ethics of technology affects paralegals in matters of confidentiality and privilege, competence, conflicts of interest, and advertising Changes in legal practice that add to the responsibilities of paralegals Refreshed review questions, discussion questions, hypotheticals, and projects Professors and students will benefit from: Consistent emphasis on how the rules of ethics affect paralegals Authoritative writing in a well-organized format Helpful overviews in every chapter Italicized key terms with corresponding definitions in the margins Review questions, hypotheticals, discussion points, and projects Relevant ethics codes, conveniently located in the Appendix Teaching materials include: Instructor’s Manual with Test Bank PowerPoint slides

"This book is divided into three parts-one on the Good Life, another on Doing the Right Thing, and the last on the Status of Morality. You can read these parts in any order. Many will want to begin at the end, for instance, with a discussion of whether morality is a human invention, or is in some way objective. Some will prefer to start in the middle, asking about the supreme principle of morality (and whether there is any such thing). And others may want to begin at the beginning, by thinking about human well-being and the quality of life. Each part can be understood independently of the others, though there are of course many points of connection across the three main branches of moral philosophy. No matter where you begin, there are footnotes in most chapters that provide cross-references to relevant discussions elsewhere in the book. When beginning a new area of study, you're bound to encounter some unfamiliar jargon. I've tried to keep this to a minimum, and I suppose that you can be thankful that we're doing ethics here, rather than physics or anatomy. I define each technical term when I first use it, and have also put together a glossary, which appears at the end of the book. Each specialized term that appears in boldface has an entry there. You may be interested enough in what you read here that you'll want to continue your studies in moral philosophy. There is a natural place to begin-the companion volume to this book, The Ethical Life, described later in this preface. I have also compiled a list of Suggestions for Further Reading for each chapter or pair of chapters. This list appears at the end of the book, just before the glossary. I have selected the readings with an eye to what might be accessible and interesting to those just beginning their study of moral philosophy"--

It is not only in our dark hours that scepticism, relativism, hypocrisy, and nihilism dog ethics. Whether it is a matter of giving to charity, or sticking to duty, or insisting on our rights, we can be confused, or be paralysed by the fear that our principles are groundless. Many are afraid that in a Godless world science has unmasked us as creatures fated by our genes to be selfish and tribalistic, or competitive and aggressive. Simon Blackburn, author of the best-selling Think, structures this short introduction around these and other threats to ethics. Confronting seven different objections to our self-image as moral, well-behaved creatures, he charts a course through the philosophical quicksands that often engulf us. Then, turning to problems of life and death, he shows how we should think about the meaning of life, and how we should mistrust the sound-bite sized absolutes that often dominate moral debates. Finally he offers a critical tour of the ways the philosophical tradition has tried to provide foundations for ethics, from Plato and Aristotle through to contemporary debates.