An Introduction to Ethics

Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2025-01-02

Now in an expanded and revised second edition, this book offers clear, penetrating examination of the central questions of ethics through study of the most important ethical theories in Western philosophy. Readers are introduced not only to the main ideas of each theory but also to contemporary developments and defenses of those ideas. Among theories the book covers are egoism, the eudaimonism of Plato and Aristotle, act and rule utilitarianism, modern natural law theory, Kant's moral theory, and existentialist ethics. Two new chapters add to this coverage expositions of Hume's ethics, Sidgwick's program for defending utilitarianism, and Rawls's hypothetical contractarianism. 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 helpful guide to how philosophical inquiry is undertaken as well as to what the major theories of ethics hold.

Sharpening the Legal Mind

University of Texas Press eBooks · 2022-08-03

The way lawyers think about the law can seem deeply mysterious. They see nuance and meaning in statutes and implications in judicial opinions that are opaque to the rest of us. Accessible and thought provoking, Sharpening the Legal Mind explains how lawyers analyze the cases and controversies that come before the courts. Written by William Powers Jr., the former president of the University of Texas at Austin, this book is an authoritative introduction to the academic study of law and legal reasoning, including insights into the philosophy of law and the intellectual history of legal thought. Powers discusses the methods lawyers use to interpret the law, the relation between law and morals, and the role of courts in shaping the law. In eight chapters, he follows the historical debate on these issues and others through different generations and movements in American legal thought-formalism, realism, positivism-to critical legal studies and postmodern theory. The perfect read for anyone looking for a primer on legal reasoning, Sharpening the Legal Mind demystifies the debates and approaches to thinking like a lawyer that profoundly influence the rule of law in our lives

Précis of <i>From Psychology to Morality: Essays in Ethical Naturalism</i>¹

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research · 2022 · 1 citations

• Sociology
• Computer Science
• Library science

Replies to Sherman, Nussbaum, and Berman

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research · 2022

• Computer Science
• Library science
• Computer Science

Chapter Eleven. Emotion and the Authority of Law

New York University Press eBooks · 2020 · 2 citations

• Political Science
• Law
• Political Science

Empathy and Conscience

2019-01-01

Concepts of Emotions in Modern Philosophy and Psychology

Oxford University Press eBooks · 2018-07-19 · 15 citations

Until the late nineteenth century the classical empiricist concept of emotions dominated modern philosophy and psychology. The work of William James and Sigmund Freud rendered this concept obsolete and gave rise to the concepts that now prevail in philosophy and psychology. This essay explains the conceptual changes in the theory of emotion that James and Freud brought about and then critically examines the concepts of emotion to which their work gave rise and that now prevail in philosophy and psychology. The examination focuses on the concepts central to cognitivist theories of emotion that take emotions to be or to contain essentially judgments, cognitivist theories that take emotions to be or to contain essentially perceptions, affective theories that take emotions to be information bearing feelings, and theories that take the intentionality of emotions to have an essentially affective character.

Punishment and Proportionality: Part 2

Oxford University Press eBooks · 2018-07-19 · 1 citations

This essay is a companion to the preceding essay. It continues the examination in the earlier essay of the question of what justice requires of the penal law in its determination of the severity of punishment relative to the seriousness of the crime for which it is inflicted. Its chief argument is that basing the determination solely on the end of giving the offender what he or she deserves is morally problematic because it conflicts with principles of humanity that call for our taking the good of human beings as our end. By contrast, it is also argued, basing the determination on promoting public safety or preserving civil order is not similarly problematic because punishment inflicted to serve either of these ends is compatible with principles of humanity.

The Emotional Significance of Punishment

Oxford University Press eBooks · 2018-07-19

The essay explains the emotional significance of punishment in law and in common life. The explanation entails first understanding inflictions of punishment as a form of retaliation. So understanding inflictions of punishment requires abandoning the standard definition of punishment in the philosophical literature that takes legal punishment as the central case. A broader definition is offered that comprehends a broader array of cases including punishment by crime bosses of their underlings, punishment by international powers of countries that have attacked their citizens or property, and punishment inflicted by vigilantes. Given this broader definition, the emotional significance of punishment is then explained by considering punishment’s functions as a deterrent to those contemplating disrupting the social order, an assurance of support for those who maintain an allegiance to the social order, and a mechanism for reintegrating into society those who have disrupted the social order and caused a breach in their relations with its members.

Introduction: Naturalism in Ethics

Oxford University Press eBooks · 2018-07-19

The collection’s introduction traces the tradition of naturalism in ethics from its origin in Plato’s <italic>Protagoras</italic> to Freud’s theory of conscience. It then surveys the twelve essays that follow it and concludes with an observation about the main challenges for any naturalist program in ethics.