Elements of Moral Philosophy (McGraw-Hill International Editions: Philosophy Series)

by James Rachels

Paperback, 1999

Status

Available

Call number

170

Collections

Your library, Philosophy

Publication

McGraw-Hill College (1999), Edition: 3rd Edition., 256 pages

Description

Firmly established as the standard text for undergraduate courses in ethics, this concise, lively book combines clear explanations of the main theories of ethics with discussions of interesting examples. Topics covered include famine relief, euthanasia, homosexuality, and the treatment of animals. The text's versatility allows it to be widely used not only in ethical theory courses, but also in applied ethics courses of all kinds.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Deinonychus

This is a good introduction to the complex world of moral theory, but it remains no more than an introduction. Despite the brief length of the book, Rachels manages to cover all of the main approaches to moral theory advanced over the years, but at the expense of some detail, and he occasionally

skims over some of the issues involved. Nevertheless his characterisations, particularly of virtue ethics and utilitarianism are well written and concise. Less successful is his attempt in the final chapter to lay out a moral theory of his own, which he only manages to outline very sketchily and really deserves a book of its own.

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LibraryThing member steve02476

I thought this was a wonderfully readable short introduction to the philosophy of morality. Serious but not overly complicated. For a 200 page paperback it's frighteningly expensive since it's frequently used as a textbook; thank god for libraries! I read the 4th ed of this book, so I'm not sure

how different the most recent 6th edition is.

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LibraryThing member Lavender3

A must read.

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