The Ethical Life

Brief yet thorough and affordably priced, The Ethical Life: Fundamental Readings in Ethics and Moral Problems, Second Edition, is ideal for courses in introductory ethics and contemporary moral problems. Featuring forty readings divided into four parts--Value Theory, Normative Ethics, Metaethics, and Moral Problems--it introduces students to ethical theory and a wide range of moral issues. The essays include selections from such historically influential philosophers as Aristotle, Hume, Kant, and Mill alongside work by contemporary philosophers like Philippa Foot, Robert Nozick, Peter Singer, and Judith Jarvis Thomson. Detailed reading introductions provide helpful contextual information.

The second edition adds nine new readings, by Plato, Ayn Rand, A.J. Ayer, Harry Gensler, Alan Dershowitz, Alastair Norcross, Paul Taylor, Thomas Hill, Jr., and Philippa Foot. It also features new subcategories in Part IV. Moral Problems: Euthanasia and a Modest Proposal; Terrorism and Torture; The Treatment of Non-Humans (Animals and the Environment); Abortion; The Limits of the Law; and Children and Parents. Designed as a companion reader to Russ Shafer-Landau's textbook, The Fundamentals of Ethics, Second Edition, The Ethical Life, Second Edition, is also comprehensive enough to be used on its own.

The book is enhanced by an Instructor's Manual and Testbank on CD (thoroughly updated for the second edition) and a Companion Website at www.oup.com/us/shafer-landau.

Russ Shafer-Landau is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.