The Fundamentals of Ethics

Russ Shafer-Landau is Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is the editor of Oxford Studies in Metaethics.

• Acknowledgments ; A Note on the Companion Volume ; A Note to Readers ; INTRODUCTION ; The Lay of the Land ; Ethical Starting Points ; Moral Reasoning ; The Role of Moral Theory ; Looking Ahead ; PART I: THE GOOD LIFE ; 1. Hedonism: Its Powerful Appeal ; Happiness and Intrinsic Value ; The Attractions of Hedonism ; There Are Many Models of a Good Life ; Personal Authority and Well-Being ; Misery Clearly Hampers A Good Life; Happiness Clearly Improves It ; The Limits of Explanation ; Rules of the Good Life-And Their Exceptions ; Happiness is What We Want For Our Loved Ones ; 2. Is Happiness All That Matters? ; The Paradox of Hedonism ; Evil Pleasures ; The Two Worlds ; False Happiness ; The Importance of Autonomy ; Life's Trajectory ; Unhappiness as a Symptom of Harm ; Conclusion ; 3. Getting What You Want ; A Variety of Good Lives ; Personal Authority ; Avoiding Objective Values ; Motivation ; Justifying the Pursuit of Self-Interest ; Knowledge of the Good ; 4. Problems for the Desire Theory ; Getting What You Want May Not be Necessary for Promoting Your Good ; Getting What You Want May Not be Sufficient for Promoting Your Good ; Desires Based on False Beliefs ; Ignorance of Desire Satisfaction ; Disinterested and Other-Regarding Desires ; Passing Fancies ; Disappointment ; Impoverished Desires ; The Paradox of Self-Harm ; The Fallibility of Our Deepest Desires ; Conclusion ; PART II: DOING THE RIGHT THING ; 5. Morality and Religion ; Three Assumptions about Religion and Morality ; God and Moral Motivation ; God as the Creator of Morality ; Religion as a Source of Moral Guidance ; Conclusion ; 6. Natural Law Theory ; The Theory and Its Attractions ; Two Conceptions of Human Nature ; Human Nature is What is Innately Human ; Human Nature is What All Humans Have in Common ; Natural Purposes ; The Argument from Humanity ; Conclusion ; 7. Psychological Egoism ; Egoism and Altruism ; The Argument from Our Strongest Desires ; The Argument from Expected Benefit ; The Argument from the Avoidance of Misery ; Two Egoistic Strategies ; Letting the Evidence Decide ; Conclusion ; 8. Ethical Egoism ; Why Be Moral? ; Two Popular Arguments for Ethical Egoism ; The Best Argument for Ethical Egoism ; Three Problems for Ethical Egoism ; Conclusion ; 9. Consequentialism: Its Nature and Attractions ; The Nature of Consequentialism ; Its Structure ; Maximizing Goodness ; Moral Knowledge ; Actual vs. Expected Results ; Assessing Actions and Intentions ; The Attractions of Utilitarianism ; Impartiality ; The Ability to Justify Conventional Moral Wisdom ; Conflict Resolution ; Moral Flexibility ; The Scope of the Moral Community ; 10. Consequentialism: Its Difficulties ; Measuring Well-Being ; Utilitarianism is Very Demanding With Respect To ; Deliberation ; Motivation ; Action ; Impartiality ; No Intrinsic Wrongness (or Rightness) ; The Problem of Justice ; Potential Solutions to the Problem of Justice ; Rule Consequentialism ; Conclusion ; 11. The Kantian Perspective: Fairness and Justice ; Consistency and Fairness ; The Principle of Universalizability ; Morality and Rationality ; Assessing the Principle of Universalizability ; Integrity ; Kant on Absolute Moral Duties ; 12. The Kantian Perspective: Autonomy and Respect ; The Principle of Humanity ; The Importance of Rationality and Autonomy ; The Good Will and Moral Worth ; Vagueness ; Determining Just Deserts ; Are We Autonomous? ; Moral Luck ; The Scope of the Moral Community ; Conclusion ; 13. The Social Contract Tradition: Theory and Attractions ; The Lure of Proceduralism ; The Background of the Social Contract Theory ; The Prisoner's Dilemma ; Cooperation and the State of Nature ; The Advantages of Contractarianism ; More Advantages: Morality and the Law ; 14. The Social Contract Tradition: Problems and Prospects ; Why Be Moral? ; The Role of Consent ; Disagreement among the Contractors ; The Scope of the Moral Community ; Conclusion ; 15. Ethical Pluralism and Absolute Moral Rules ; The Structure of Moral Theories ; Are There Any Absolute Moral Rules? ; Preventing Catastrophes ; The Doctrine of Double Effect ; Is Moral Absolutism Irrational? ; Moral Conflict and Contradiction ; The Doctrine of Doing and Allowing ; Conclusion ; 16. Ethical Pluralism: Prima Facie Duties and Ethical Particularism ; Ross's Ethic of Prima Facie Duties ; The Attractions of Ross's View ; Knowing the Fundamental Moral Rules ; Knowing the Right Thing To Do ; Ethical Particularism ; Conclusion ; 17. Virtue Ethics ; The Standard of Right Action ; Moral Complexity ; Moral Understanding ; Moral Education ; The Nature of Virtue ; Virtue and the Good Life ; Objections ; Tragic Dilemmas ; Does Virtue Ethics Offer Adequate Moral Guidance? ; Is Virtue Ethics Too Demanding? ; Who Are The Moral Exemplars? ; Conflict and Contradiction ; The Priority Problem ; Conclusion ; 18. The Ethics of Feminism ; The Elements of Feminist Ethics ; Moral Development ; Women's Experience ; The Ethics of Care ; The Importance of Emotions ; Against Unification ; Against Impartiality and Abstraction ; Against Competition ; Downplaying Rights ; Challenges for Feminist Ethics ; PART III: THE STATUS OF MORALITY ; 19. Ethical Relativism ; Moral Skepticism ; Two Kinds of Ethical Relativism ; Some Implications of Ethical Subjectivism and Cultural Relativism ; Moral Infallibility ; Moral Equivalence ; No Intrinsic Value ; Questioning Our Own Commitments ; Moral Progress ; Contradiction and Disagreement ; Ideal Observers ; Conclusion ; 20. Moral Nihilism ; Moral Skepticism ; Expressivism ; Error Theory ; Conclusion ; 21. Ten Arguments against Moral Objectivity ; (1) Objectivity Requires Absolutism ; (2) All Truth is Subjective ; (3) Equal Rights Entail Equal Plausibility ; (4) Moral Objectivity Supports Dogmatism ; (5) Moral Objectivity Supports Intolerance ; (6) Moral Disagreement Undermines Moral Objectivity ; (7) Atheism Undermines Moral Objectivity ; (8) The Absence of Categorical Reasons Undermines Moral Objectivity ; (9) Moral Motivation Undermines Moral Objectivity ; (10) Values Have No Place In A Scientific World ; Conclusion ; References ; Suggestions for Further Reading ; Glossary ; Index