Today's Moral Issues

Preface Introduction: Moral Arguments and Moral Relativism Relativism Arguments Evaluating Arguments: Three Arguments for Cultural Relativism Arguments against Cultural Relativism Making Moral Arguments Exceptions to Moral Principles PART I. FIRST PRINCIPLES Classic Texts Aristotle, from Nicomachean Ethics David Hume, from A Treatise of Human Nature Immanuel Kant, from Grounding of the Metaphysics of Morals Jeremy Bentham, from Principles of Morals and Legislation John Stuart Mill, from Utilitarianism John Rawls, from A Theory of Justice Philippa Foot, from Virtues and Vices The Environment Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich, "Risks, Costs, and Benefits" Bill Devall and George Sessions, from Deep Ecology William Baxter, from People or Penguins Animals International League of the Rights of Animals, "Universal Declaration of the Rights of Animals" Peter Singer, from Animal Liberation Tom Regan, from "The Case for Animal Rights" Carl Cohen, "The Case for the Use of Animals in Biomedical Research" David Carruthers, from The Animals Issue Sexual Behavior Bertrand Russell, "Our Sexual Ethics" Thomas Mappes, "Sexual Morality and the Concept of Using Another Person" Sidney Callahan, "Abortion and the Sexual Agenda" Roger Scruton, from Sexual Desire PART II. LIBERTY Classic Texts Aristotle, from Nicomachean Ethics John Milton, from Areopagitica Edmund Burke, from Reflections on the Revolution in France John Stuart Mill, from On Liberty Drug Legalization Milton Friedman, "An Open Letter to Bill Bennett" William J. Bennett, "A Response to Milton Friedman" Ethan A. Nadelmann, "The Case for Legalization" James Q. Wilson, "Against the Legalization of Drugs" Douglas Husak, from Drugs and Rights Pornography Reno v. ACLU Catharine MacKinnon, "Pornography, Civil Rights, and Speech" Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, "The Question of Harm" Wendy McElroy, from Sexual Correctness Nadine Strossen, from Defending Pornography Thomas E. Weber, "Does Anything Go?" Offensive Speech and Behavior Justice Antonin Scalia, majority opinion in R. A. V. v. St. Paul Stanley Fish, from There's No Such Thing as Free Speech, and It's a Good Thing ,Too" Jonathan Rauch, "Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought" Privacy Justice William Douglas, majority opinion in Griswold v. Connecticut Justices Black and Stewart, dissenting opinion in Griswold v. Connecticut Justice Byron White, majority opinion in Bowers v. Hardwick Justice Harry Blackmun, dissenting opinion in Bowers v. Hardwick Richard Posner, from The Economics of Justice Jeffrey Reiman, "Driving to the Panopticon" PART III. RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES Classic Texts Thomas Hobbes, from Leviathan John Locke, from Second Treatise of Government Jean-Jacques Rousseau, from On the Social Contract Edmund Burke, from Reflections on the Revolution in France John Stuart Mill, from Utilitarianism Abortion Justice Harry Blackmun, majority opinion in Roe v. Wade John T. Noonan, Jr., "An Almost Absolute Value in History" Judith Jarvis Thomson, "A Defense of Abortion" Mary Anne Warren, "On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion" Jane English, "Abortion and the Concept of a Person" Don Marquis, "Why Abortion Is Immoral" Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide Matter of Quinlan Cruzan v. Harmon Chief Justice William Rehnquist, majority opinion in Cruzan v. Missouri Department of Health Justice John Paul Stevens, dissenting opinion in Cruzan v. Missouri Department of Health J. Gay-Williams, "The Wrongfulness of Euthanasia" James Rachels, "The Morality of Euthanasia" Ronald Dworkin, Thomas Nagel, Robert Nozick, John Rawls, Thomas Scanlon, and Judith Jarvis Thomson, "The Brief of the Amici Curiae" Chief Justice William Rehnquist, majority opinion in Washington v. Glucksberg Chief Justice William Rehnquist, majority opinion in Vacco v. Quill Capital Punishment Justice William Brennan, concurring opinion in Furman v. Georgia Justice Thurgood Marshall, concurring opinion in Furman v. Georgia Justices Stewart, Powell, and Stevens, majority opinion in Gregg v. Georgia Hugo Adam Bedau, "The Case against the Death Penalty" Ernest van den Haag, from The Death Penalty: A Debate PART IV. JUSTICE Classic Texts Aristotle, from Nicomachean Ethics and Politics John Locke, from Second Treatise of Government Jean-Jacques Rousseau, from Discourse on the Origin of Inequality and On the Social Contract Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, from Estranged Labour, Manifesto of the Communist Party, and Critique of the Gotha Program John Rawls, from A Theory of Justice Robert Nozick, from Anarchy, State, and Utopia Welfare Kai Nielsen, "Egalitarian Justice: Equality as a Goal and Equality as a Right" John Hospers, "What Libertarianism Is" Ronald Dworkin, "Liberalism" Charles Murray, from Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950--1980 Marvin Olasky, from The Tragedy of American Compassion Michael Tanner and Stephen Moore, "Why Welfare Pays" Affirmative Action Justice Lewis Powell, majority opinion in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke Hopwood v. Texas Antonin Scalia, "The Disease as a Cure" Bernard R. Boxill, "Blacks and Social Justice" Thomas Sowell, "'Affirmative Action': A Worldwide Disaster" World Hunger Garrett Hardin, "The Case against Helping the Poor" Peter Singer, from Practical Ethics Bryan T. Johnson, Kim R. Holmes, and Melanie Kirkpatrick, "Freedom's Steady March"