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cencej263h
Chpt2Summary.pdf
Chapter 2 Summary This chapter includes excerpts from the writings of Bentham, Aquinas, Kant, Locke, Aristotle, Ross, and Rawls each of which represents one of the seven major ethical theories that figure in most of the selections in the remaining chapters.
The selection from Mill is an excerpt from his Utilitarianism in which he defends a version of act utilitarianism against various objections and offers a proof of the principle of utility. The classic natural law tradition in ethics is represented by a selection from Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae in which he sets forth a conception of the good that provides the basis for an account of right action grounded in human nature.
The selection by Kant is from Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, sections I and II, in which he defends the claim that only a good will is good without qualification and proceeds to defend the categorical imperative as the fundamental principle of right action. The idea of natural rights, which plays a significant role in applied ethics, is represented in the selection from Locke’s Two Treatises of Government.
The selection by Aristotle from Nicomachean Ethics is focused on the concept of virtue and its role in leading a flourishing life. The work of Aristotle has inspired the relatively recent emergence of virtue ethical accounts of right action that increasingly play a role in addressing disputed moral issues. The selection from W. D. Ross’s The Right and the Good features a pluralist ethic of prima facie duty. The final selection of John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice represents a version of social contract theory as it applies to issues of distributive justice. Chapter Goals
• The main goal is to provide readings from classic proponents of the seven ethical traditions that play an especially important role in philosophical approaches to moral issues.
• Reading and discussion questions at the end of each selection are intended to help students understand each of the theories as articulated and defended by the authors.
