The Moral of the Story: An Introduction to Ethics by Rosenstand, Nina;

Long description:

The Moral of the Story, Fifth Edition offers a remarkably effective approach that helps students understand and evaluate moral issues. Through storytelling and story analysis, using examples from fiction and film, Rosenstand clearly shows how ethical theories are applied to real life. The fifth edition encapsulates and reflects the present social and political climate. As such, coverage of topics like courage, terrorism, and just war have been enhanced and updated throughout.

The Moral of the Story, Fifth Edition offers a remarkably effective approach that helps students understand and evaluate moral issues. Through storytelling and story analysis, using examples from fiction and film, Rosenstand clearly shows how ethical theories are applied to real life. The fifth edition encapsulates and reflects the present social and political climate. As such, coverage of topics like courage, terrorism, and just war have been enhanced and updated throughout.

Table of Contents:

PART I: The Story as a Tool of Ethics

Chapter 1: Thinking About Values

The Best of Times, the Worst of Times

Good and Evil

Morals, Ethics, and Values

Why Be Moral?

Debating Moral Issues

Martha Nussbaum, Stories Have Value

Primary Reading: Martha Nussbaum, Love's Knowledge

Narrative: How to Be Good

Narrative: Smoke Signals

Narrative: Big Fish

Chapter 2: Learning Moral Lessons from Stories

Didactic Stories

The New Interest in Stories

The Value of Stories

Stories Past and Present

Stories to Live and Die By

Seeing Your Life as a Story

Living in the Narrative Zone

Primary Reading: Plato, The Republic

Primary Reading: Aristotle, Poetics

Primary Reading: Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose

Primary Reading: Tristine Rainer, Your Life as Story

Narrative: Medea

Narrative: The Sorrows of Young Werther

Narrative: Pulp Fiction

PART II: What Should I Do? Theories of Conduct

Chapter 3: Ethical Relativism

How to Deal with Moral Differences

The Lessons of Anthropology

Problems with Ethical Relativism

Refuting Ethical Relativism

Ethical Relativism and Multiculturalism

Primary Reading: Ruth Benedict, "Anthropology and the Abnormal"

Primary Reading: Dwight Furrow, "Of Cave Dwellers and Spirits"

Primary Reading: Bhikhu Parekh, "The Concept of Multicultural Education"

Narrative: The Poisonwood Bible

Narrative: Possessing the Secret of Joy

Narrative: Sideshow

Narrative: Do the Right Thing

Chapter 4: Myself or Others?

Psychological Egoism

Ethical Egoism

Altruism: Ideal and Reciprocal

Primary Reading: Plato, The Republic

Primary Reading: Erik Katz, "The Rings of Tolkien and Plato"

Primary Reading: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

Primary Reading: Ayn Rand, "The Ethics of Emergencies"

Narrative: Friends

Narrative: Return to Paradise

Narrative: Madame Bovary

Narrative: Atlas Shrugged

Narrative: "The Gift of the Magi"

Narrative: The Lord of the Rings

Chapter 5: Using Your Reason, Part 1: Utilitarianism

Jeremy Bentham and the Hedonistic Calculus

John Stuart Mill: Another Utilitarian Vision

Act and Rule Utilitarianism

Primary Reading: Jeremy Bentham, "Of the Principle of Utility"

Primary Reading: John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism

Narrative: "The Blacksmith and the Baker"

Narrative: The Brothers Karamazov

Narrative: "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"

Narrative: Saving Private Ryan

Narrative: Extreme Measures

Narrative: Runaway Jury

Chapter 6: Using Your Reason, Part 2: Kant's Deontology

The Good Will

The Categorical Imperative

Rational Beings Are Ends in Themselves

Primary Reading: Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals

Primary Reading: Immanuel Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals

Narrative: High Noon

Narrative: Outland

Narrative: Cop Land

Narrative: Abandon Ship!

Narrative: The Insider

Chapter 7: Personhood, Rights, and Justice

What Is a Human Being?

Persons and Rights

Questions of Rights

Distributive Justice

Criminal Justice

Primary Reading: The United Nations Universal Declaration of Rights

Primary Reading: John Rawls, "Justice as Fairness"

Primary Reading: Martin Luther King, Jr., "A Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Primary Reading: Diane Whitely, "The Victim and the Justification of Punishment"

Narrative: Blade Runner

Narrative: Gattaca

Narrative: Mississippi Burning

Narrative: Outbreak

Narrative: Minority Report

PART III: How Should I Be? Theories of Virtue

Chapter 8: Socrates, Plato, and the Good Life

What Is Virtue?

The Good Teacher

The Good Life

The Virtuous Person

Plato's Theory of Forms

Primary Reading: Plato, Euthyphro

Primary Reading: Plato, Apology

Narrative: A Man for All Seasons

Narrative: "The Myth of the Cave"

Narrative: The Truman Show

Narrative: "The Store of the Worlds"

Narrative: Shrek

Chapter 9: Aristotle's Virtue Theory

Aristotle the Scientist

Aristotle and Virtue

Aristotle's Influence on Aquinas

Some Objections to Greek Virtue Theory

Primary Reading: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book II

Primary Reading: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book III

Narrative: "The Flight of Icarus"

Narrative: Njal's Saga

Narrative: Lord Jim

Narrative: "A Piece of Advice"

Narrative: As Good as it Gets

Chapter 10: Contemporary Perspectives

Ethics and the Morality of Virtue

Have Virtue, and Then Go Ahead: Mayo, Foot, and Sommers

The Quest for Authenticity: Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Sartre, and Levinas

Primary Reading: Soren Kierkegaard, Johannes Climacus

Primary Reading: Soren Kierkegaard, Either/Or

Primary Reading: Emmanuel Levinas, "The Paradox of Morality: An Interview with Emmanuel Levinas"

Narrative: Hannah and her Sisters

Narrative: No Exit

Narrative: A Few Good Men

Chapter 11: Case Studies in Virtues

Courage: What Is It, and Who Has It?

Compassion: Are We Born with It?

Gratitude: How Much and When?

Virtue and Conduct: A Combination?

Primary Reading: John McCain, Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life

Primary Reading: Philip Hallie, Tales of Good and Evil, Help and Harm

Primary Reading: Lin Yutang, "On Growing Old Gracefully"

Narrative: Band of Brothers

Narrative: The Life of Tom Horn

Narrative: "The Parable of the Good Samaritan"

Narrative: "King Yudisthira and the Dog"

Narrative: Schindler's List

Narrative: Eat Drink Man Woman

Narrative: Pay It Forward

Narrative: Grand Canyon

Chapter 12: Different Gender, Different Ethic?

Feminism and Virtue Theory

What Is Gender Equality?

Women's Historical Role in the Public Sphere

First-, Second-, and Third-Wave Feminism

Facets of Feminism Today

Primary Reading: Harriet Taylor Mill, "Enfranchisement of Women"

Primary Reading: Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex

Primary Reading: Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice

Primary Reading: Deborah Tannen, Talking from 9 to 5

Narrative: A Doll's House

Narrative: Like Water for Chocolate

Narrative: "The Woman Destroyed"

Narrative: Mona Lisa Smile

Chapter 13: Applied Ethics: A Sampler

Media Ethics

Theory of a Just War

Animal Welfare and Animal Rights

The Death Penalty

Stories and Issues: A Final Word

Primary Reading: Andrew Belsey and Ruth Chadwick, "Ethics as a Vehicle for Media Quality"

Primary Reading: John Rawls, The Law of Peoples

Primary Reading: Jan Narveson, "Morality and Violence: War, Revolution, Terrorism"

Primary Reading: David Rodin, "Terrorism Without Intention"

Primary Reading: Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and Roger Lewin, Kanzi: The Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind

Primary Reading: Stephen Nathanson, An Eye for an Eye? The Morality of Punishing by Death

Primary Reading: John Douglas and Mark Olshaker, Journey into Darkness

Primary Reading: Tom Sorell, "Two Ideals and the Death Penalty"

Primary Reading: Mark Fuhrman, Death and Justice: An Expose of Oklahoma's Death Row Machine

Narrative: 15 Minutes

Narrative: "The Jigsaw Man"

Narrative: The Life of David Gale

Bibliography

Glossary

Index

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