Basic ethics

"Basic Ethics presents for a wide range of students and other interested readers the questions raised in thinking about ethical problems, the answers offered by moral philosophy, and the means to better integrate both into the reader's world and personal life. It takes up what the author calls a "worldview theory," which shows readers how to begin with the values and understanding of the world that they already possess in order to transition from there to new levels of increasing ethical awareness. Updates to the Third Edition include the more thorough integration of feminist ethics into the principal theoretical traditions, a new chapter on the ethical responsibility to be well informed of current events, expanded coverage of human rights, and additional opportunities on how to use ethical reasoning in thinking about one's own life and about public policy"--

Part I: The Basic Questions -- 1. Living in a World of Values -- I. Who We Are and What Do We Value? -- II. What Is Ethics? -- III. The Individual: Metaethics, Normative Ethics, and Applied Ethics -- IV. The Society: Social and Political Ethics -- 2. Personal Worldview and Community Worldview -- I. The Normative Nature of Worldview -- II. Personal Worldview -- III. Community Worldview -- 3. The Ethical Duty to Be Knowledgeable about Your World -- I. Epistemology and Action Theory -- II. Living in Community and the Obligation to Be an Active Member -- III. What Are Facts and What Is Opinion? -- IV. Facts and Decision Making -- V. How to Ferret out Facts from Propaganda -- VI. Deductive, Inductive, and Abductive Logic -- Conclusion -- 4. Relativism -- I. Cultural Relativism -- II. Moral Relativism -- III. What Is at Stake? -- 5. Egoism -- I. Introduction -- II. Psychological Egoism -- III. Ethical Egoism -- IV. Egoism and Altruism -- 6. Are People Good or Bad? -- I. Introduction -- II. Humans Are Bad -- III. Humans Are Good -- IV. What Difference Does It Make? -- 7. Morality and Religion -- I. Introduction -- II. The Origin of the Problem -- III. Absolute Good -- IV. Divine Command …