Ethics: An Overview

Robin Attfield is Professor of Philosophy at Cardiff University, UK. His recent publications include Creation, Evolution and Meaning (Ashgate, 2006), Environmental Ethics: An Overview for the 21st Century (Polity, 2003) and The Ethics of the Global Environment (EUP, 1999).

• 1. History of Ethics; i. Aristotle; ii. Hume and Hobbes; iii. Kant; iv. Mill; 2. Value-theory and the Good Life; i. Pleasure, Happiness and Flourishing; ii. Value and Intrinsic Value; iii. Worthwhile Life and Meaningful Work; iv. The Good Life, Virtue and Morality; 3. Normative Ethics; i. Moral Standing and its Scope; ii. More About Intrinsic Value; iii. Consequentialism; iv. Deontology; v. Virtue Ethics; vi. Practice-consequentialism and Virtue-consequentialism; 4. Applied Ethics; i. The Re-emergence of Applied Ethics; ii. Medical Ethics; iii. Environmental Ethics; iv. Animal Ethics; v. Ethics of War; vi. Ethics of Development; 5. Meta-Ethics; i. Non-cognitivism, Projectivism and Prescriptivism; ii. 'Good' and 'Ought'; iii. Cognitivism and Realism; iv. Naturalism and Non-naturalism; v. Internalism and Externalism; vi. Bearing of Meta-Ethics on Normative Ethics; 6. Responsibility and Free Will; i. Responsibility, 'Ought' and 'Can'; ii. Compatibilism; iii. Incompatibilism; iv. Indeterminism; Further Reading; Index.

"This is an admirable up-to-date introduction to the main fields of ethics, including meta-ethics and applied ethics. The way Attfield presents his material reveals long-standing teaching experience and makes the book especially suitable for beginners. Though taking a firm stance on the more controversial topics of ethics (rather then indulging in mere "option presentation") Attfield consistently avoids being magisterial. Instead, the reader is invited to think things through for himself and to come to his own conclusions. (Dieter Birnbacher, Professor of Philosophy, Heinrich-Heine-Universitat Dusseldorf, Germany)"