Contemporary Readings in Social and Political Ethics

This source book for introductory and intermediate-level courses in moral philosophy contains readings dealing with both concrete social and political issues and more abstract theories of ethics and politics. The editors have selected topics on the basis of their enduring importance and contemporary relevance. After an introduction to ethical theory generally, separate sections are devoted to theories of punishment, feminism, abortion, political theory, war, and marriage and the family. Brief introductions to each section highlight the important points raised by each contributor. Rather than choosing selections from larger works, the editors have included only complete articles and self-contained sections of books. The reader will find representative statements of as many of the major opposing positions as space allows. The contributors include Simone de Beauvoir, Freemon Dyson, Steven Goldberg, Max Horkheimer, C.S. Lewis, Herbert Marcuse, Karl Menninger, Thomas Nagel, John Rawls, Bertrand Russell, Peter Singer, Thomas Szasz, Paul Taylor, and other leading scholars.