Ethics: An Overview
This is the definitive companion to the study of ethics. It provides students with an accessible, comprehensive and philosophically rigorous introduction to the major thinkers, issues and debates.
Ethics: An Overview Paperback – 2012 by Robin Attfield
This is the definitive companion to the study of ethics. It provides students with an accessible, comprehensive and philosophically rigorous introduction to the major thinkers, issues and debates. Ideal for use on undergraduate courses, but also of lasting value for postgraduate students, the structure and content of this textbook closely reflect the way ethics is studied. Thematically structured, the text provides a historical overview of the subject and a comprehensive introduction to the main branches of ethics: meta-ethics, normative ethics and applied ethics. The book also includes coverage of key aspects of value-theory and key issues concerning agency and moral responsibility. It applies ethics to contemporary issues such as climate change, the environment, development, poverty and war. Crucially, the book encourages students to do ethics for themselves, equipping the reader with a wide-ranging grasp of the discipline in all its central areas of contemporary study and reflection. Robin Attfield's cogent and thorough analysis is supplemented by student-friendly features, including chapter summaries, study questions, exercises, and a comprehensive guide to further reading and other resources.
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Reviews
This is an excellent book on Ethics. Starting with a historical overview as his introduction, Robin Attfield gives a thorough analysis of all the major branches of the subject, including normative ethics, meta-ethics and applied ethics. It deals with such contemporary subjects as climate change, environment, poverty and war. The chapters are clearly laid out and include summaries, further reading suggestions and study questions.
The book is comprehensive and covers all major philosophers and aspects of the subject in a clear, concise style which is easy to read. As a relative novice to Philosophy, I found the subject matter very interesting, accessible and comprehensible. Robin Attfield's approach allows the reader to form his own judgements from the very clear analysis of the topics presented. Far from being dull, the book engages the mind from beginning to end.
Robin Attfield's introduction to Ethics is written for students, particularly those who have already taken one year of philosophy, but it is suitable for the general reader interested in the subject and willing to look up the meaning of the occasional word, such as "necessary" and "sufficient". It covers the meaning of ethical terms such as value, rights and obligation together with a wide range of ethical issues, eg in medicine, the environment and war. It also discusses the objectivity of moral judgments and the freedom of the will and makes a case for both.
The writing is clear and draws together three important constituents which are often kept separate: moral principles, moral cases and the writings of past moral philosophers. It is divided into short, readily assimilated sections, each with references and questions for further discussion. Furthermore it is accompanied by a website containing essay topics, reading lists and additional relevant texts and powerpoint presentations; these will be useful to students and lecturers alike.
I cannot think of a better introduction to ethics. It is exactly what I lacked when I studied philosophy fifty years ago. It uniquely draws the subject together and clarifies its concepts. Most of all it shows how deep and rigorous thought is relevant to the real world and its future survival.