The Moral World

The Moral World is a comprehensive introduction to the diverse perspectives of major ethical thinkers and theories. The book explores Eastern, Western, religious, and secular views of ethics and helps students understand when and how to participate in ethical discussions.

The text is rooted in normative ethics—the various theories of ethics created by thinkers to let us know how to behave toward one another. The five sections of the book address religious morality and transcendence, virtue ethicists, rational norms and secular morality, ethics and social change, and issues in medical ethics. As students engage with these overarching concepts, they are exposed to the writings of great philosophical thinkers ancient and contemporary, including Aristotle, Maimonides, Avicenna, Bentham, Rand, Marx, King, Gandhi, and the Dalai Lama.

The second edition features new readings on ethics and feminism, ethics in medicine, and ethical considerations related to gene therapy and euthanasia.

Written in a student-friendly style, The Moral World enables students to understand the place of ethics, connect religion and ethics, and recognize the value of ethics in the material world. The book is appropriate for introductory courses in ethics. It can also be used as a supplemental reader in classes on comparative religion, general philosophy, or humanities.