Peter Cave - Ethics: A Beginners Guide

Rich, comprehensive and provocative, with illustrative examples that are original and stimulating altogether a fine and authoritative introduction to the subject.

Michael Clark Emeritus Professor of Philosophy,
University of Nottingham

A must-read. It is thorough and complete, yet always accessible and entertaining, written in Caves signature sharp style. No matter what your background, this book will inform and challenge you just as moral philosophizing should.

Andrew Pessin Professor of Philosophy,
Connecticut College

Readable and entertaining With characteristic verve, Peter Cave surveys a wide range of topics and challenges readers to think their way through complex moral problems. For those seeking to make sense of lifes dilemmas, as well as for students enrolled in philosophy courses, this is an ideal guide.

Dan Cohn-Sherbok Professor Emeritus of Judaism,
University of Wales

ONEWORLD BEGINNERS GUIDES combine an original, inventive, and engaging approach with expert analysis on subjects ranging from art and history to religion and politics, and everything in-between. Innovative and affordable, books in the series are perfect for anyone curious about the way the world works and the big ideas of our time.

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Written for
those who anguish about
doing what is right
and for those who do not

*

In memory of
Laurence Goldstein (19472014),
good friend, good philosopher,
good humoured
and now, sadly,
goodbye

Noel Coward, so the story goes, sent postcards to a selection of distinguished establishment people. The cards said, We know what youve done. Leave London or all will be revealed. They all left London well, so it is reported. Nothing was revealed save, later, the facts here presented.

Whether or not the report is true, most of us if not all recognize that we have done things we ought not to have done, or failed to do things we ought to have done. Those oughts could be read in terms of securing our own advantage. Many, though, recognize that such oughts and ought nots possess moral flavours, not those of any obvious self-interest. Perhaps we let someone down or betrayed a confidence; broke a promise or were not quite honest about payments received; or passed by on the other side. We readily recognize how we may be ashamed of certain behaviours certain hopes, motives and emotions and yet proud of others. Such reflections place us in the realm of ethics, of morality; such reflections show our ready awareness of morality, of ethics and hence of this books subject.

Ethics, as an academic discipline, is, of course, the study of ethics, of morality; it is a reflection whereby we self-conscious beings seek to make sense of how to live. In our everyday lives, we often wonder what we ought morally to do. That can lead into questions of what would be fair or just yet also, whether one should be loyal or impartial, courageous, compassionate Would it be beneficial overall to lie on a particular occasion? Is it sometimes better not to insist on our rights? And so on The and so on leads into the nature of goodness, of moral responsibility, and into life and death dilemmas abortion, sexuality, assisted dying, our treatment of non-human animals. Ethics embraces a medley of moral concepts, concerns and questions.

The terms ethics and morality are typically used interchangeably as they are here, until though ethics perhaps hints at the ethos of a life whereas morality focuses more on duties and rights. For completeness, let us mention political philosophy: although its central concern can be procedures for effective government, underlying must be the moral justification of a states authority and how it prioritizes moral values such as liberty, welfare and the democratic will. European states, for example, reject capital punishment, the death penalty, considering it morally repulsive, whereas some US states have no qualms at all in applying that penalty of finality.