An Introduction to Ethics

Cambridge Introductions to Philosophy

by John Deigh

This book examines the central questions of ethics through a study of theories of right and wrong that are found in the great ethical works of Western philosophy. It focuses on theories that continue to have a significant presence in the field. The core chapters cover egoism, the eudaimonism of Plato and Aristotle, act and rule utilitarianism, modern natural law theory, Kant's moral theory, and existentialist ethics. Readers will be introduced not only to the main ideas of each theory but to contemporary developments and defenses of those ideas. A final chapter takes up topics in meta-ethics and moral psychology. The discussions throughout draw the reader into philosophical inquiry through argument and criticism that illuminate the profundity of the questions under examination. Students will find this book to be a very helpful guide to how philosophical inquiry is undertaken as well as to what the major theories in ethics hold.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

254 pages, Paperback

First published March 4, 2010

Reviews

[Imlac · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've worked my way carefully through this book. It is a superb presentation of the basics of normative ethics. Deigh very clearly and systematically situates all the major ethical theories (along with their development by their main proponents) in a truly elegant and illuminating explanatory framework.

Deigh presents all the relevant definitions, distinctions, supporting and opposing arguments in blessedly straightforward prose. No slang, short cuts, or tedious idioms that other (inferior) writers habitually employ to pander to what they suppose is the laziness and shallowness of their easily-distracted readers.

The author has done heroic work in making this introduction to ethics comprehensible. Nevertheless I really can't imagine anyone truly appreciating and benefitting from this effort who isn't a professional philosopher in training. The concepts and their articulation into arguments and eventual synthesis into theories are too intellectually demanding - as, indeed, is any effort to explain or understand genuine philosophy.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction that approaches ethics from a somewhat different angle than other authors. Almost worth 5 stars, but I think it's held back by cumbersome writing and narrower coverage than I would want in an introductory textbook. Lacks the clarity and scope of a text like that of Pojman/Fieser, but also better at constructing and deconstructing arguments.

[Sarah]

Excellent, however dense. Encapsulates the essence of ethical thought.