2001 Revision, Authors: Peter A. Facione, Donald Scherer, and Thomas Attig

If the police can lie when they interrogate suspects, why is it wrong for me to lie if I have a good enough reason too? If I oppose scientific experimentation on animals and genetics research, am I ethically obligated to refuse medical advances derived that research even if it would save my life? Should parents have the right to decide the sex of their children, or determine whether they will be vaccinated, or go to school? Would I be happier if I learned to curb my desire for power, wealth or popularity? In today's world, does it make sense to act virtuously and with integrity; or is it every one for themselves, and hurt the other guy before he hurts you? Should the government ration electricity and other forms of energy, and if so, who has priority and why? Do I as a person, or as a member of society, owe reparations to the descendants of former slaves? Should I be able to build any kind of home I wish on property I own, or do anything I wish in the privacy of my apartment, as long as it does not hurt anyone else? Is it really wrong to buy clothing made by children working fifteen hours a day in the sweatshops of the world's poorest countries? Where does my right to privacy end and your right to safety and the common good begin?

Ethics and Society helps you come to grips with the real ethical questions of everyday living. You will learn how to make ethical decisions that are both principled and practical. This book sharpens your intellectual skills and equips you with the fundamental knowledge for dealing with normative questions. Case studies, examples, and rich sets of exercises and discussion questions make the ethical theories and concepts practical. Our assumption is that most readers are interested primarily in acquiring a practical, not just a theoretical, knowledge of ethics that is relevant for today’s world. Our chief goal in this book is simply making ethical ideas accessible to college level readers and equipping them with the intellectual tools to deal rationally with ethical issues and ideas in the personal and social realm.

The book's middle chapters focus on ethical decision-making values: social utility and the common good, self-interest, rights and duties, freedom and autonomy, justice and equality, community quality and social stability, the rule of law and private morality. Each chapter is a self-contained presentation of the relevant normative ideas, concepts, and distinctions. These chapters trace the implications of those ideas using illustrative case studies and examples. Objections and contrary views are considered along with some of the possible replies. The chapters which focus on key values are flanked at the start and the end with chapters serving different roles. These two chapters provide a framework for understanding what ethics is all about and for dealing rationally with ethical concerns. Chapter One tells how to justify normative claims; the final chapter concentrates on how to understand and how to resolve divergent and conflicting values.

There are many specially designed learning features loaded into this outstanding book. For example, chapters are divided into lesson-sized modules or sections, usually three to a chapter, each of which starts off by identifying the most important things you should be able to do after having read that section. Use these lists of learning goals to focus your efforts. Next comes a case study—a fictional story that illustrates the chief ideas and techniques to be developed in that section. The explanatory text draws out theoretical points and describes philosophical techniques both abstractly and by appeal to the case study and other examples. With each section we offer a set of exercises and discussion questions which give you the opportunity to apply the ideas and the tools you are learning. We are proud of these exercises and questions and we know how well they can reinforce your understanding of what you have read in the section. The questions represent real issues that have been drawn from our own classroom and professional lives. We give answers to selected exercises along with references back to specific paragraphs in the section to help you find the relevant material.

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Published by The California Academic Press, Millbrae, CA.
©(2001) Peter A. Facione, Donald Scherer, Thomas Attig. ISBN 1-891557-51-3