Being good : a short introduction to ethics / Simon Blackburn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Blackburn, Simon.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethics.

Physical Description:

x, 162 p. : ill. ; 18 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, c2001.

Summary:

"It is not only in our dark hours that scepticism, relativism, hypocrisy, and nihilism dog ethics. Whether it is a matter of giving to charity, or sticking to duty, or insisting on our rights, we can be confused, or be paralysed by the fear that our principles are groundless. Simon Blackburn structures this short introduction around these and other threats to ethics. Confronting seven different objections to our self-image as moral, well-behaved creatures, he charts a course through the philosophical quicksands that often engulf us. Then, turning to problems of life and death, he shows how we should think about the meaning of life, and how we should mistrust the sound-bite sized absolutes that often dominate moral debates. Finally he offers a critical tour of the ways the philosophical tradition has tried to provide foundations for ethics, from Plato and Aristotle through to contemporary debates."--Publisher.

Contents:

Seven threats to ethics: death of God

Relativism

Egoism

Evolutionary theory

Determinism and futility

Unreasonable demands

False consciousness

Some ethical ideas: Birth

Death

Desire and the meaning of life

Pleasure

Greatest happiness of the greatest number

Freedom from the bad

Freedom and paternalism

Rights and natural rights

Foundations: Reasons and foundations

Being good and living well

Categorical imperative

Contracts and discourse

Common point of view

Confidence restored

Appendix: United Nations' universal declaration of human rights.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-159) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Miller Fund bookplate.

ISBN:

0192100521

OCLC:

45648556