Preface Introduction Part I: The Nature of Morality: Good and Evil 1. What is the Purpose of Morality? William Golding, Lord of the Flies: A Moral Allegory Louis P. Pojman, On the Nature and Purpose of Morality: Reflections on William Golding's Lord of the Flies Thomas Hobbes, On the State of Nature 2. Good and Evil Herman Melville, Billy Budd Fyodor Dostoevsky, Why Is There Evil? William Styron, Sophie's Choice Philip Hallie, From Cruelty to Goodness Philippa Foot, Natural Goodness Richard Taylor, On the Origin of Good and Evil 3. Is Everything Relative? Herodotus, Custom Is King Ruth Benedict, The Case for Moral Relativism David Enoch, Why I Am an Objectivist about Ethics (And Why You Are, Too) James Rachels, Why Morality Is Not Relative Jean Bethke Elshtain, Judge Not? Mary Midgley, Trying Out One's New Sword Henrick Ibsen, The Enemy of the People Part II: Moral Theories and Moral Character 4. Utilitarianism Seaman Holmes and the Longboat of William Brown, Reported by John William Wallace Jeremy Bentham, Classical Utilitarianism John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism Refined Kai Nielsen, A Defense of Utilitarianism Bernard Williams, Against Utilitarianism Ursula Le Guin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas 5. Deontological Ethics Immanuel Kant, The Moral Law William K. Frankena, Kant's Theory W. D. Ross, Intuitionism Ambrose Bierce, A Horseman in the Sky Charles Fried, The Evil of Lying Plato, Does Morality Depend on Religion? James Rachels, The Divine Command Theory Thomas Nagel, Moral Luck Carl Dennis, New Year's Eve 6. Virtue Ethics Aristotle, Virtue Ethics Alasdair MacIntyre, The Virtues Susan Wolf, Moral Saints Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Great Stone Face William K. Frankena, A Critique of Virtue-Based Ethical Systems Jesus of Nazareth, The Sermon on the Mount; The Good Samaritan Leo Tolstoy, How Much Land Does a Man Need? Greed Epictetus and Others, The Stoic Catechism Vice Admiral James Stockdale, The World of Epictetus: Courage and Endurance 7. Feminist Ethics and the Ethics of Care Alison M. Jaggar, Feminist Ethics Jan Crosthwaite, Gender and Bioethics Annette C. Baier, The Need for More than Justice Virginia Held, The Ethics of Care Part III Moral Issues 8. Ethics and Egoism: Why Should We Be Moral? Plato, The Ring of Gyges Ayn Rand, In Defense of Ethical Egoism Louis P. Pojman, Egoism and Altruism: A Critique of Ayn Rand James Rachels, A Critique of Ethical Egoism 9. Does Life Have Meaning? Voltaire, The Good Brahmin Epicurus, Hedonism Albert Camus, Life Is Absurd Viktor Frankl, The Human Search for Meaning: Reflections on Auschwitz * John Messerly, The Ascent of Meaning Bertrand Russell, Reflections on Suffering Richard Taylor, The Meaning of Life Part IV: Applied Ethics: Moral Problems 10. Sexism and Misogyny Ann E. Cudd and Leslie Jones, Sexism Kate Manne with Sean Illing, What We Get Wrong about Misogyny Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper 11. Racism, Equity, and Privilege Lawrence Blum, Racism: What It Is and Isn't Naomi Zack, Uses and Abuses of the Discourse of White Privilege Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Racism Without Racists Shannon Sullivan, Good White Liberals 12. Free Speech and Hate Speech Sigal Ben-Porath, Free Speech on Campus Richard Stengel and Conor Friedersdorf, Two Views of Speech Laws Erwin Chemerinsky and Howard Gillman, Hate Speech 13. Pandemic Ehics Michael Sandel with Colleen Walsh, Why Some Americans Refuse to Social Distance and Wear Masks Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Govind Persad, Ross Upshur, Et Al., Fair Allocation of Scarce Medical Resources in the Time of COVID-19 14. Food Ethics George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant Tristram McPherson, How to Argue for (and Against) Ethical Veganism Joel Salatin, Animal Welfare Alastair Norcross, Puppies, Pigs, and People: Eating Meat and Marginal Cases 15. The Ethics of Climate Change Robert Heilbroner, What Has Prosperity Ever Done for Me? Stephen M. Gardiner, A Perfect Moral Storm: Climate Change John Broome, The Public and Private Morality of Climate Change

I believe this is one of the best ethics anthologies available... It gives a good selection of traditional and important ethical theories, excerpts of classics in the field, applications of ethics to current controversies and other materials that exemplify the abstract theories." - Glen A. Mazis, Penn State Harrisburg

"I believe this is one of the best ethics anthologies available... It gives a good selection of traditional and important ethical theories, excerpts of classics in the field, applications of ethics to current controversies and other materials that exemplify the abstract theories." - Glen A. Mazis, Penn State Harrisburg "The overall quality of the book is excellent. It's breadth and depth in ethics and literature is rivaled by no other introductory text. The editors introductions to the topics and to each reading are brief and crystal clear. It's accessible enough to be assigned in an introductory course. The book is impeccably organized, covers most of the topics I teach in my ethics courses and many others." - Travis Timmerman, Seton Hall University "Excellent book. Great coverage of topics. Allows different instructors to use the same text but have different emphases--theoretical and practical. This book continues to be the standard introduction to moral reasoning for selection and price." - David S. Brown, Lindenwood University

The late Louis P. Pojman was Professor of Philosophy at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He is the author or editor of more than thirty books including Classics of Philosophy, Third Edition (OUP, 2010). Lewis Vaughn is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including Bioethics, Fourth Edition (2019), The Power of Critical Thinking, Sixth Edition, (2018), Philosophy Here and Now, Third Edition (2019), and Living Philosophy, Third Edition (2021), all published by Oxford University Press. He also publishes Doing Ethics, Fifth Edition (2018) with W.W. Norton.

Selling point: Philosophical essays paired with literary works clarify concepts, draw students into topics, and bring ethical dilemmas and principles to life Selling point: A balance of both classic and contemporary readings in ethics gives students a broad view of the application and relevance of ethics Selling point: An appendix on how to read and write a philosophy paper provides advice for instructors who want to include writing assignments in their courses