Customer Reviews

Causing Death and Saving Lives (Pelican)

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This book is concerned with practical ethics, a very old branch of philosophy with a long history all the way from the Greeks. For the Greeks, philosophy was not an academic affair ---politics and ethics dealt with real problems of the day. That trend withered as time went on. This book applies tools of philosophy to real life problems such as abortion, infanticide, war, and suicide. The most interesting aspect of the book is that it does not push any particular point of view. Instead it takes each problem and describes various attempts to deal with it. For example abortion: some people believe abortion is wrong because the foetus has life and life is sacred, others believe that the foetus's right can be overridden by the right for the mother to make a choice about her own life. Neither position is completely defensible logically and both have their slippery points. Glover takes each of these viewpoints and analyzes its pros and cons. It is up to the reader to understand these arguments and make a judgement about where they stand. This is the best book to understand controversial issues such as infanticide, capital punishment and abortion without getting caught up in false rhetoric. Once you read this book, you will see these issues differently; with less surety and more humility.

This is a classic work of applied ethics. Jonathan Glover, one of the leaders in the field, casts a calm and rational light on some of the key moral issues concerning loss of life, such as abortion, capital punishemnt and warfare. His arguments are always balanced and fair, as well as penetrating. They are also free of unnecessary philosophical technicality. Strongly recommended.