Ethics: History, Theory, and Contemporary Issues [Paperback]

Steven M. Cahn (Editor), Peter Markie (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 16, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0195142004 | ISBN-13: 978-0195142006 | Edition: 2

The most comprehensive collection of its kind, Ethics: History, Theory, and Contemporary Issues, 2/e is organized into three sections, providing instructors with flexibility in designing and teaching a variety of courses in moral philosophy. The first section, Historical Sources, moves from classical thought (Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, and Epictetus) through medieval views (Augustine and Aquinas) to modern theories (Hobbes, Butler, Hume, Kant, Bentham, and Mill), culminating with leading nineteenth- and twentieth-century thinkers (Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, James, Dewey, Camus, and Sartre). The readings are printed in their entirety wherever possible. The second section, Modern Ethical Theory, includes many of the most important essays of the past century. The discussion of utilitarianism, Kantianism, egoism, and relativism continues in the work of major contemporary philosophers (Williams, Brandt, Feinberg, Foot, and Rachels). Landmark selections (Moore, Prichard, Ross, Ayer, Stevenson, Anscombe, Baier, Hare, Harman, and Gauthier) reflect concern with moral language and the justification of morality. The concepts of justice (Rawls) and rights (Feinberg) are explored, as well as recent views on the importance of virtue ethics (MacIntyre and Rachels) and an ethic influenced by feminist concerns (Held). In the third section, Contemporary Moral Problems, the readings present the current debates over abortion, euthanasia, famine relief, animal rights, the death penalty, and affirmative action.
This second edition features expanded selections from Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, and Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus. It also includes articles by Michael Stocker on ethical theory; Jane English and Joel Feinberg on abortion; Thomas D. Sullivan on euthanasia; Hugo Adam Bedau on capital punishment; and Judith Jarvis Thomson, Robert Simon, and Steven M. Cahn on affirmative action.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A fine anthology. The organization of this book into three parts will accommodate a variety of approaches to teaching ethics."--David Detmer, Purdue University Calumet

"Excellent compendium of texts, wonderful resource book for the beginning as well as the advanced student. The broad approach--not only focusing on theories but also on contemporary moral issues--makes it unique."--Angelika Soldan, University of Texas, Brownsville

"A fine balance between historical and contemporary sources. Students will be able to gain a basic understanding of theoretical issues and also apply them to problems."--Ted Vaggalis, Drury University

About the Author

Steven M. Cahn, Professor of Philosophy, City University of New York Graduate Center. Peter Markie, Professor of Philosophy, University of Missouri, Columbia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 896 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2 edition (August 16, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195142004
• ISBN-13: 978-0195142006
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #880,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Steven M. Cahn a Professor of Philosophy at the City University of New York Graduate Center in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Horrid translations makes this a bad text, April 11, 2009

By 

Jim Steele - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ethics: History, Theory, and Contemporary Issues (Paperback)

This book has absolutely atrocious translations of some of the older texts. Here's an example from Epicurus' Letters to Menoeceus

This text reads
"For it is then that we have need of pleasure, when we feel pain owing to the absence of pleasure; (but when we do not feel pain), we no longer need pleasure."

Every other translation reads something like
"When we are pained because of the absence of pleasure, then, and then only, do we feel the need of pleasure. "

That completely reverses the meaning of the text. I have never seen a book filled with so many ham fisted translations. I can't recommend this book to any professor who hopes to teach their students well, or any reader who hopes to understand these texts properly.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For other instructors considering this text, April 18, 2011

By 

Brandon S. Gillette (Lawrence, KS) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ethics: History, Theory, and Contemporary Issues (Paperback)

This is about as comprehensive as it gets at this price. I know of no other book that presents the most common readings in meta-ethics, the history of ethics, moral language, normative ethical theories, and applied ethics. This gives the book a great deal of versatility for various focuses in introductory ethics courses.

Unlike many books of its kind, this book contains few things that are available in the public domain. Even for writings that are several hundred years old (or older) this collection tends to consist of scholarly editions of the text, which are not themselves in the public domain. Considering the relatively low cost of this book, that is a noteworthy fact. After all, it's irritating as a student to buy an expensive anthology which is 30-50% available for free online.

Another reviewer expressed dissatisfaction with the translations selected. All translators must wrestle with balancing accessibility with accuracy, and the results are not likely to be satisfactory to everyone. I can't say anything specifically about the Epicurus translations, but the works I'm more familiar with select (to my mind) acceptable translations. For example, the Aristotle is the Ross translation as revised by Ackrill and Urmson, which is not as good as the Irwin translation, but is better than the public domain Ross translation. The Kant readings are the Gregor translation, which is not public domain, and is generally considered the scholarly standard for that work. The Plato seems all to be Gallop translations, which are reasonably well-thought of and use more modern language than the Jowett. In general, for reasons that make economic sense, since this is an Oxford book the editions of these texts are mostly taken from editions published by Oxford. While they certainly don't have a monopoly on the best editions of these works, they're generally among the best available.

In general this is a very good collection that ought to contain most or all of what the majority of ethics instructors typically assign in their courses, and at a price which is reasonably competitive.

4.0 out of 5 stars college book, September 26, 2011

By 

bookreader (WA, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ethics: History, Theory, and Contemporary Issues (Paperback)

The book came on time and at a good price! I will buy from them again if they have the books I need.