The ethical life : fundamental readings in ethics and moral problems

536 Pages·2018·31.89 MB·English

by  Shafer-Landau, Russ

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OXFORD
UNIVI!IlS1TY I'Rl!SS

The Ethical Life

The Ethical Life

Fundamental Readings
in Ethics and Moral Problems

Fuurth Edition

RUSS SHAFER~LANDAU

111C U"it"'rsityo!Wist:onsi" at Ma,/ison

New York
Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

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Names: Shafer-I.andau. Russ, author.
Title: 'Ihe ethicallile: fundamental readings in ethics and moral problems I
Russ Shafer-landau.lhe University ufWisconsin at Madison.

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CONTENTS
--~-

Preface ix
A Note on the Companion Volume xiii

INTRODUCTION I

PART I The Good Life

1. John Stuart Mill
Hedonism
11
2. Robert Nozick The Experience Machine
21
3. (''hris Heathwood Faring Well and Getting What You Want
25

4. Brad Hooker The Elements of Well-Being
37
5. Susan Wolf Happiness and Meaning: Two Aspects of the Good
Life
53

PART II Normative Ethics
Theories of Right Conduct

6. Plato Euthyphro
75
7. Thomas Aquinas Natural Law
84
8. John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism
97
9. Immanuel Kant The Good Will and the Categorical
Imperative
107

10. Thomas Hobbes
Leviathan
120

11. W. D. Ross What Makes Right Acts Right?
131
12. Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics
143
13. Hilde Lindemann What [s Feminist Ethics?
155

PART III Metaethics
The Status of Morality

14. David Hume Moral Distinctions Not Derived from
Reason
171

15. J. L. Mackie The Subjectivity of Values
181
16. Gilbert Harman
Ethics and Observation
190
J 7. Harry Gensler Cultural Relativism
199
18. David Enoch
Why I Am an Objectivist about Ethics (And Why

You Are. Too)
208

v

vi
CONTENTS

PARTIV Moral Problems

19. Kwame Anthony Appiah
What Will Future Generations
Condemn Us For? 225

POVERTY AND HUNGER
20. Peter Singer
'111e Singer Solution to World Poverty
230

21. Jan Narveson
Feeding the Hungry 238

EUTHANASIA AND A MODEST PROPOSAL

22. James Rachels 'Ihe Morality of Euthanasia 252
23. John Harris lhe Survival Lottery 258

THE MORAL STATUS OF ANIMALS

24. Alastair Norcross
Puppies, Pigs and People: Eating Meat and
Marginal Cases
267
25. R. G. Frey Moral Standing, the Value ofLives, and Speciesism
283

THE ENVIRONMENT

26. Eric A. Posner and Cass R. Sunstein
Climate Change Justice
301

27. Ihomas Hill, Jr.
Ideals of Human ExceJIence and Preserving
Natural Environments 3] 7

ABORTION

28. Judith Jarvis 7homson
A Defense of Abortion
333
29. Don Marquis
Why Abortion Is Immoral 346

30. Philippa Foot the Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of the
Double Effect
357

THE DBATH PENALTY

31. Igor Primoratz Justifying Legal Punishment 370
32. Step~en Nathanson
An Eye for an Eye?
380

GUNS

33. Jeff McMahan
Why Gun 'Control' Is Not Enough
390

34. Michael Huemer
Is 'Ihere a Right to Own a Gun?
396

THE LEGACY OF RACISM

35. Chris Lebron Time for a New Black Radicalism
411
36. Louis P. Pojman
°Ihe Case Against Affirmative Action 417
37. Daniel M. Hausman
Affirmative Action: Bad Arguments and

Some Good Ones 432
38. Hlizabeth Anderson lhe Future of Racial Integration 446

Contents vii

DRUGS

39. Michael Huemer Americas Unjust Drug War 466
40. Peter de Marneffe Against the Legalization of Drugs 480

CoPYRIGHT

41. Jonathan Trerise Why U1egal1y Downloading Files Is Morally
Wrong
496
42. TIm Anderson and D. E. Wittkower Why Legally Downloading
Music Is Morally Wrong 508

PREFACE
-,....-

B
rief yet thorough. The Ethical Life: Fundamental Readings in
Ethics and Moral Problems is a collection of original writings in
ethics. Its four parts-The Good Life. Normative Ethics, Meta-

ethics. and Moral Problems-serve to introduce readers to each of the
major branches of moral philosophy, with readings that have been
carefully selected for their engaging style and their accessibility. This
book can be usefully read on its own. and is an ideal way to acquaint
students with the major themes of moral philosophy through a large
selection of primary source material.

Changes to the Fourth Edition

This edition of The Ethical Ufe contains a dozen new selections and two
new sections.
Part I now offers Brad Hooker's assessment of different theories of
well-being and Susan Wolf's popular paper discussing the relationship
between happiness and meaning in life.
part II now offers selections from two classics: Thomas Aquinas's pre-

sentation of natural law theory and John Stuart Mill's exposition of utili-
tarian ethics.
Part III now includes Gilbert Harman's influential challenge to the
objectivity of ethics. a challenge that unfavorably contrasts morality with
the natural sciences.

Part IV has seen the largest number of changes. This part now begins with
a provocative piece by Kwame Anthony Appiah. who invites us to reflect on
the morality of contemporary practices by asking what future generations will
condemn us for. There is a new section on copyright law, which contains two
commissioned pieces, one by Jonathan Trerise and another by Tim Anderson
and D. E. Wittkower. These papers focus specifically on the morality of
(il)1egalIy downloading music. There is another new section, this one on gun
controL featuring opposing pieces by Jeff McMahan and Michael Huemer. In
other selections that are new to this edition. Eric A. Posner and Cass R. Sun-
stein discuss what justice requires when facing the challenges of climate change,
Elizabeth Anderson argues for the importance of racial integration as a social
policy. and Peter de Mametfe offers argwnents against the legalization of drugs.

ix

t
PREFACE

Input from students, instructors, and reviewers, plus a mandate to

keep the book to the length of previous editions, has also led to having to
say goodbye to several pieces from the last edition, many of which are per-
sonal favorites of mine. With some sadness, the following articles have been

~eleted for the fourth edition: Epicurus, "Letter to Menoeceusi" Jean Kazez,
"Necessities;" Philippa Foot, "Natural Goodness;" J. J. C. Smart, "Extreme
md Restricted Utilitarianism;" A. J. Ayer, "A Critique of Ethics;" John Cor-
000, "Why Shouldn't Tommy and Jimmy Have Sex?;" Michael Walzer, "Ter-
rorism: A Critique ofExcusesi" Alan Dershowitz, "Should the Ticking Bomb
ferrorist Be Tortured?;" Paul Taylor, "The Ethics of Respect for Nature;"
Michael Sandel. "The Case Against Perfection;" and Julian Sawlescu,
"Genetic Interventions and the Ethics of Enhancement of Human Beings:'

[nstructor's Manual and Companion Website

The companion website designed to support this book offers self-quizzes,
further reading. and web links to sites of further interest. You can visit the
website at: www.oup.com/us/shafer-landau.
In addition. the Instructor's Manual can be accessed on the Oxford Uni-
lI'ersity Press Ancillary Resource Center (ARC) at https:llarc2.oup-arc.coml
Iccess/shafer-landau-ethical-life-4e-instructor-resources.The manual itself

laS short abstracts of every reading with accompanying essay questions, a
=omputerized test bank, further reading, lecture outlines on PowerPoint
rudes, and web links to sites of further interest. The ARC is a convenient,
instructor-focused single destination for resources to accompany this
text. Accessed online through individual user accounts, the ARC provides
instructors with access to up-to-date ancillaries at any time while guarantee-
ing the security of grade-significant resources. In addition, it allows OUP to
keep instructors infonned when new content becomes available.
The work for these ancillary materials was undertaken by my stel-

lar research assistants Justin Horn. who provided all of the web materi-
ds associated with the first two editions, and Ben Schwan, who provided

~pdates associated with the third and this latest edition. I am very grateful
for their dedicated efforts in making these first-rate resources.
Learning Management System (LMS) cartridges are available in for-
lIlats compatible with any LMS in use at your college or university and
include the following:

• The Instructor's Manual and Computerized Test Bank

Preface xi

Acknowledgments

It has been a lot of fun putting this b()ok together, but it hasn't always been
an easy thing to do. By far the most difficult aspect of the project was the
winnowing. Ethics is so large a field, with so much that is provocative and
interesting within it, yet books must have their page limits, and those limits
often forced me to leave a prized piece behind. It has been a real challenge
to offer a representative sampling of subject matter and viewpoints within
a book of this size. To the extent that I have met with any success, it is
owing in large part to the helpful suggestions and kind critical advice I
have received from the following philosophers: Kristofer Arca at Miami
Dade College, Ben Almassi at College of Lake County. Fidel Arneci1lo at
csu-San Bernardino, Ralph Baergen at Idaho State University. Jeffrey
Brand-Ballard at George Washington University, Patrick Martin Breen at
the College of Staten Island, Adam Briggle at University of North Texas,
David Burris at Arizona Western College, Tom Carson at Loyola Univer-
sity Chicago, Charles Comer at Harrisburg Area Community College,
Christian Coons at Bowling Green State University, Richard DeGeorge at
the University of Kansas, Neil Delaney at the University of Notre Dame,
David Detmer at Purdue University Calumet, Tyler Doggett at the Uni-
versity of Vermont, Robert M. Farley at Hillsborough Community Col-
lege, Andrew Fitz-Gibbon at SUNY Cortland, Amber George at Le Moyne
College, Deke Gould at Syracuse University. Christopher Grall at Clem-
son University. Craig Hanks at Texas State University. Richard Haynes at
the University of Florida, Darren Hibbs at Nova Southeastern University.
KeJly Heuer at Georgetown University. Richard Hine at the University of
Connecticut, John Huss at the University of Akron. Clark Hutton at Vol-
unteer State Community College. Phil Jenkins at Marywood University,
Carla Johnson at St. Cloud State University, Keith Kurcl at the University
of Louisiana at Lafayette. Jacob Krch at University ofWiscollsin-Madison.
Mark LeBar at Ohio University, Richard Lee at the University of Arkan-
sas, Hilde Lindeman at Michigan State University. Patrick Linden at NYU
Polytechnic, Jessica Logue at the University of Portland, Sarah Lublink at
Florida Southwestern State College, Eugene Marshall at Wellesley College.
Michael McKenna at Florida State University, Brian Merrill at Brigham
Young University-Idaho, John Messerly at Shoreline Community College.
Christian Miller at Wake Forest University. Richard Momeyer at Miami
University of Ohio, Michelle Moon at CSU-Channel Islands. Jennifer
Morton at CUNY, Mark Murphy at Georgetown University. Nathan Nobis

xii
PREFACE

at Morehouse College, Aleksandr Pjevalica at University of Texas-El Paso,
David Pereplyotchik at Baruch College, Jamie Phillips at Clarion Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania, Philip Robbins at the University of Missouri, Nathan
Rockwood at Virginia Tech, David Sobel at Syracuse University, Stephen
Sutlivan at Edinboro University, Mark van Roojen at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, Dave Schmidtz at the University of Arizona, David
Shoemaker at Tulane University, Paul Wagner at the University of Hous-
ton Clear Lake, Brian Wagoner at Davis and Elkins College. Kit Wellman
at Washington University in St. Louis, Jason Zinser at the University of
Florida, and Christopher Zurn at the University of Kentucky. I am very
grateful for their assistance.
I would also like to acknowledge the terrific support of my editor at
Oxford, Robert Miller, and his crack assistant Alyssa Palazzo, who helped
shepherd this book through its various stages. I feel very fortunate to have
had a chance to work with Robert on this and other projects over the years,
and am. as always, grateful for his advice, constant encouragement, open-
mindedness. and inspired good sense.
R.S.L.
Madison, Wisconsin

A NOTE ON THE

COMPANION VOlL!ME

T
his collection can be used as a self-standing introduction to
ethics. It includes readings from each ()f the major divisions
within moral philosophy. Together with the Generallntroduc-
lion, an introduction 10 each reading, study questions, and all of the
supplementary materials available at the book's website, I h()pc that
readers are able to get a very good feel for just how interesting moral
philosophy can be.

This collection is designed to serve as a natural partner to Fundamen-

tals of Ethics (Oxford University Press), an introduction to moral philoso-
phy that I have written. Fundamentals is a textbook, though I hope that it
is a bit more lively than such a label implies. Both books offer coverage of
the good life, the nature of duty and virtue, and the status of morality. 'Ihe
book you have in your hands also olfers extensive coverage of many practi-
cal ethical problems, such as abortion, gun control, famine relief, etc. My
hope, of course, is that the two books work neatly in tandem. lhe theories
and positions I pre.~ent and analyze in Fundamentals are here represented
by some of their finest defenders. For those who are content to get the
view directly from the source, this book should do. But if you would like
a moral theory or an ethical position placed in a broader context, its main
lines of argument laid out dearly and then critically assessed. then a dip
into the companion volume might not be a bad idea.
I am very interested in hearing from readers who are willing to offer
me their feedback, both positive and negative. Perhaps you have found
some pieces dull or uninspired. or some that were especially exciting
and challenging. For teachers who are familiar with this terrain, perhaps
you've been disappointed at seeing a beloved piece gone missing, or would
like to pass along the success of a given selection in sparking conversa-
tion. The easiest way to reach me is by email: