A Companion to Ethics (Blackwell Companions to Philosophy) 1st Edition by Peter Singer (PDF)

Description

In this volume, some of today’s most distinguished philosophers survey the whole field of ethics, from its origins, through the great ethical traditions, to theories of how we ought to live, arguments about specific ethical issues, and the nature of ethics itself. The book can be read straight through from beginning to end; yet the inclusion of a multi-layered index, coupled with a descriptive outline of contents and bibliographies of relevant literature, means that the volume also serves as a work of reference, both for those coming afresh to the study of ethics and for readers already familiar with the subject.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This was the worst book I was ever tortured into buy for school. It has nothing to do with the book, I just hate philosophy

⭐This is too indebt, but it is required text.

⭐needed for class

⭐A Companion to Ethics by Peter Singer is exactly what the title promises: it invites the reader to take a fascinating journey around the world of ethics. The book is part of the Blackwell Companions to Philosophy series and is divided into seven parts containing a total of 47 chapters, each written by authorities in fields such as philosophy, theology, history, anthropology, sociology, and education.The first part (Chapters 1-3) reviews the roots of ethical thinking, including the origin of ethics, ethics in small-scale societies, and ancient ethics. The following part (Chapters 4-9) discusses the great ethical traditions: Indian ethics, Buddhist ethics, classical Chinese ethics, Jewish ethics, Christian ethics, and Islamic ethics. These chapters provide the reader with valuable information about how these traditions developed over time and how similar/dissimilar they are to each other. Part 3 describes the history of Western philosophical ethics by analyzing developments in ethical thinking in three distinct time periods: ethics in ancient Greece, medieval and renaissance ethics, and modern moral philosophy (Chapters 10-12). In the fourth part (Chapters 13-22), the authors look at more specific ethical theories that have been developed to answer the fundamental question: “What ought I to do?” The authors discuss, for example, natural law (Chapter 13), Kantian ethics (Chapter 14), the ethics of egoism (Chapter 16) and prima facie duties (Chapter 18), utility and the good (Chapter 20), and virtue theory (Chapter 21). It is in these sections that the reader can learn how the different ethics theories sometimes overlap and at other times seem to contradict each other, and how difficult it is to decide on the right/best choice in a particular situation. While the chapters in this section discuss primarily the theoretical aspects of ethics theories, the reader is invited in Part V, titled “Applications,” to use ethical reasoning (i.e., applied ethics) by looking at topics such as world poverty, environmental issues, animal rights, euthanasia, abortion, societal attitudes about sex, discrimination and preferential treatment, as well as issues in business ethics, crime and punishment, politics, and war and peace (Chapters 23-34). I found that these chapters are particularly well suited for class discussions.The sixth part is about the nature of ethical properties and evaluations, meaning that the authors review theories about ethics (i.e., meta-ethics), not theories of ethics (i.e., normative theories intended to guide conduct), as was discussed in the previous sections. Here, the authors review theories such as realism, subjectivism, relativism, universal prescriptivism, and morality (Chapters 35-42). The final part (Part 7) provides opportunities to challenge the motion that ethics has any objective or universal validity. The authors offer discussions about the idea of a female ethic, the significance of evolution, Marx’s opinion about morality, ethics and religion, and the implications of determinism (Chapters 43-47).Singer published this book as the first edition in 1993. It is in my opinion an excellent text- and reference-book because of its comprehensive coverage and the many opportunities it provides readers for stimulating and in-depth discussions. As is true with many fields, ethics is not static but changing over time as societies continue to develop. It would be nice seeing an updated version of this book in the near future.

⭐I found this book to be a great introduction to all aspects of ethics. It leaves no area untouched: everything from Buddhist ethics to deontology, consequentialism, virtue theory, the nature of morality, and much much more is covered here. Indeed, I would say that anyone who wants a survey of this area of philosophy need look no further.But the book has several glaring flaws. Notably, it appears that some of the choices of essays were slightly biased. A case in point: the two essays on comtemporary deontology and consequentialism. The essay on deontology appears to not be written by an actual deontologist, and the author spent most of the essay bringing up silly objections that even I, as a first year undergraduate philosophy major, could answer. This is in stark contrast to the essay on consequentialism, written in a tone that barely escapes arrogance by its end.There is nothing wrong with having a die-hard supporter of consequentialism write an essay introducing people to the topic. If this book were better, all of the essays would’ve been written with just that goal in mind. To pick essays not written by people who actually subscribe to the ethical theory in question is simply poor editing, because often the writer reveals her ignorance. This reduces the quality of the book, instead of giving each ethical theory the best possible promulgation. Indeed, it’s not as if deontology is so unpopular that Singer couldn’t have found one to write about it.If anything, a better choice of essays would’ve made this book more useful than it actually is. Indeed, one of the interesting things about the essay on “universal perscriptivism” by R.M. Hare, was that the table of contents actually claims that the article is written by the theory’s originator and best spokesman. If all the essays were written by their respective theory’s “best spokesman,” than this book would have 5 stars.Apart from these glaring flaws, the book remains a well edited companion to ethics. There is coverage (even if sometimes poor) given to almost every possible ethical theory, the history of ethics, applied ethics (just war, business ethics, etc.), and various ethical views (i.e., realism, naturalism, relativism, etc.). Anyone interested in a breif overview of the entire field of morality should start here.

⭐Companions are great tools for one to go from novice to well-informed student . This volume is one of the best–expertly written and comprehensive in scope. It of course covers the mandatory topics such as metaethics and ethical theory. But its several historical essays add a breath of coverage not usually found in introductory texts. Who can profit from these readings? Any course on ethics, introductory or even graduate, will find much of value here. And the intelligent general reader will find this a real delight. Highly recommended for anyone interested in ethics and striving to advance his learning.

⭐I have used this text to teach ethics several times, and I will continue to do so. It has concise and clear articles by leading philosophers on a wide range of subjects, from the evolution and anthropology of ethics, to the various ethical theories, to meta-ethics and topics in ethics. Not only do I use it to teach, I use it as a quick handbook and reference when I need to refresh myself about specific arguments and ideas in ethics.I hope that Peter Singer will bring a new edition to market sooner rather than later. But even if he does not, the current edition will continue to hold-up well. And even where one prefers to assign (primarily) primary texts to one’s students in introductory ethics, this volume can be precisely what its title suggests – a great companion.

⭐This is a useful book with a wide ranging set of essays on a very broad set of ethical topics. In fact the broadness of the book’s contents is both a strength and weakness. The strength is that you will find angles on aspects of ethics you will struggle to find in many ethical anthologies. The weakness is that by being quite so broad, it does lack something in terms of depth. The essays are generally of a high standard – although I found a couple less well written (and the standard is not as high as Singer’s other really excellent anthology – Applied Ethics). So in the end it depends what you want – if you really want an anthology that covers all aspects of ethics then this is probably as close as you will get to such a thing in a single volume. If you are looking for an anthology with really deep and thorough essays on certain aspects then this is probably less strong. I am pleased I bought it and it has certainly introduced me to some streams of ethical thinking I was less familar with. However, in a couple of core areas the essays are a less profound than I hoped for.

⭐Excellent Book on Ethics . The Book is written for Readers who are Theistic , but touches on those who are atheistic and nontheistic As a Buddhist I appreciate Prof Peter Singer . as an animal rights philosopher.

⭐Scribbled in with pens. Low quality

⭐fab service highly recommend

⭐essential reading for philosophy first year degree students

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