Ethics 9781623655952

Table of contents :
Contents
Preface
Is there a Golden Rule?
Doing as you would be done by
Golden rules
The demands of consistency
Tarnished gold
Do the Ends Justify the Means?
Doing wrong for the sake of what is right
Coming down to consequences
Reframing the question
The end of means and ends?
Is Terrorism Ever Justified?
The legitimacy of all necessary means
Why not violence?
Beyond the moral abacus
Countering terror
Should We Favour Our Families and Friends?
The ethics of preferential treatment
Each counts for one
Rejecting utility
Special relationships
How Much Should We Give to Charity?
The duty to rescue
The argument for obligation
Responsibility
The duty to trade fair
Living, not just existing
Are Drug Laws Morally Inconsistent?
The link between law and morality
Morality and the law
The inconsistency of culture
Do Animals Have Rights?
Expanding the moral circle
Wrongs of rights
Animal rights, animal responsibility?
Is Abortion Murder?
The value of human life
The sanctity of life
The value of human life
Drawing lines
Fuzzy life
Should Euthanasia Be Legal?
The right to end your own life
The tragic imprecision of law
The morality of assisted suicide
Double effect
A clearer confusion
Is Sex a Moral Issue?
Ethics beyond prudery
Ethics and morality
Sex and the good life
The return of ethics
Can Discrimination Be Good?
Sameness, difference and equality
Group think
Correcting for injustice
Discriminating judgements
Is Free Trade Fair Trade?
The ethics of global business
Defending the free market
Free and fair?
Should We Protect the Environment?
On whether nature can be harmed
The invention of nature
What are we harming?
Whose environment?
Are We Responsible for Our Actions?
Criminality and being in your right mind
Illness and ignorance
No more normal?
What is a Just War?
The rights and wrongs of armed conflict
The principles
Just war in Afghanistan?
Just war in Iraq?
Is Torture Always Wrong?
How to stop a ticking bomb
The case for torture
Never say never
What Can Science Tell Us about Morality?
What facts tell us about values
From is to ought
What science has to say
Informing yes, determining no
Is Morality Relative?
The variability of moral codes
Anything goes?
Absolutely relative
Flexible absolutes
Religious relativism
One size doesn’t fit all
Without God, is Everything Permitted?
The link between morality and religion
An ancient dilemma
Where goodness lies
Can All Moral Dilemmas Be Resolved?
The limits of ethics
There must be an answer
The final choice
Endnotes