What is this thing called Ethics?

by Christopher Bennett

What is morality? How do we define what is right and wrong? How does moral theory help us deal with ethical issues in the world around us?

This second edition provides an engaging and stimulating introduction to philosophical thinking about morality. Christopher Bennett provides the reader with accessible examples of contemporary and relevant ethical problems, before looking at the main theoretical approaches and key philosophers associated with them. Topics covered include:

life and death issues such as abortion and global poverty;
the meaning of life; whether life is sacred and which lives matter;
major moral theories such as utilitarianism, Kantian ethics and virtue ethics;
critiques of morality from Marx and Nietzsche.

What is this Thing Called Ethics? has been thoroughly revised and updated throughout, with a new final chapter on meta-ethics.

With boxed case studies, discussion questions and further reading included within each chapter this textbook is the ideal introduction to ethics for philosophy students coming to the subject for the first time.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

218 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2010

Reviews

[Abigail Warren · Rating 1 out of 5]

boring af

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

A dull read at times.

[Richard Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting, accessible and helpful introduction to ethics. It is a nicely written introduction to the topic of ethics, of use to both students and someone just interested in the topic. I liked the ordering of the chapters and the way the subject is introduced, and found the inclusion of Marxist and Nietzschian criticisms of ethics helpful. My only criticism, which is minor but just shaded me off giving the book 5 stars is that the first few chapters whilst helpful do sometimes pose too many questions. I know this is to stimulate the reader's thinking, but it did irritate me a tiny bit. If you want to study ethics seriously you will very soon get beyond this book, but it is a good place to start.