The Ethics Toolkit
A Compendium of Ethical Concepts and Methods
2. Edition December 2023
336 Pages, Softcover
Textbook
A new edition of the bestselling guide which equips readers with the skills necessary for engaging in ethical reflection
The Ethics Toolkit offers an engaging and approachable introduction to the core concepts, principles, and methods of contemporary ethics. Explaining to students and general readers how to think critically about ethics and actually use philosophical concepts, this innovative volume provides the tools and knowledge required to engage intelligently in ethical study, deliberation, and debate.
Invaluable as both a complete guide and a handy reference, this versatile resource provides clear and authoritative information on a diverse range of topics, from fundamental concepts and major ethical frameworks to contemporary critiques and ongoing debates. Throughout the text, Fosl and Baggini highlight the crucial role ethics plays in our lives, exploring autonomy, free will, consciousness, fairness, responsibility, consent, intersectionality, sex and gender, and much more.
Substantially revised and expanded, the second edition of The Ethics Toolkit contains a wealth of new entries, new recommended readings, more detailed textual references, and numerous timely real-world and hypothetical examples.
* Uses clear and accessible language appropriate for use inside and beyond the classroom
* Contains cross-referenced entries to help readers connect and contrast ideas
* Engages both non-Western and Western philosophy
* Offer insights into key issues in ethics with a firm grounding in the history of philosophy
* Includes an appendix of tools for the practice of ethics, including links to podcasts, web and print resources, and prominent ethics organizations
Written by the authors of the popular The Philosophers' Toolkit, this new edition of The Ethics Toolkit is a must-have resource for anyone interested in ethics, from general readers to undergraduate and graduate students.
Part I The Grounds of Ethics 1
1.1 Aesthetics 1
1.2 Agency 5
1.3 Authority 8
1.4 Autonomy 12
1.5 Awareness and Consciousness 16
1.6 Character and Self-Cultivation 20
1.7 Conscience 23
1.8 Constraints 26
1.9 Evolution 28
1.10 Flourishing 31
1.11 Harmony 33
1.12 Hierarchy 36
1.13 Interest 39
1.14 Intuition 42
1.15 Natural Law 45
1.16 Need and Desire 49
1.17 Obligation 52
1.18 Pain, Pleasure, and Happiness 54
1.19 Power 58
1.20 Revelation 61
1.21 Rights 64
1.22 Salvation 68
1.23 Sympathy 71
1.24 Tradition and History 73
Part II Central Concepts in Ethics 77
2.1 Act/Omission 77
2.2 Act/Rule 80
2.3 Bad/Evil/Good 82
2.4 Beneficence/Non-Maleficence 85
2.5 Can/Ought 88
2.6 Cause/Reason 90
2.7 Cognitivism/Non-Cognitivism 93
2.8 Consent 97
2.9 Dharma 100
2.10 Excuse/Explanation/Justification 102
2.11 Exploitation 106
2.12 Golden Mean 110
2.13 Harm 113
2.14 Honour/Shame 116
2.15 Identity 121
2.16 Individual/Collective 124
2.17 Intentions/Consequences 127
2.18 Internalism/Externalism 130
2.19 Intersectionality 133
2.20 Intrinsic/Instrumental Value 136
2.21 Karma 139
2.22 Legal/Moral 142
2.23 Liberty, Freedom 145
2.24 Metaethics/Normative Ethics 149
2.25 Moral Subjects and Agents 152
2.26 Public/Private 155
2.27 Responsibility 158
Part III Frameworks for Ethics 162
3.1 Buddhist Ethics 162
3.2 Care 165
3.3 Confucian Role Ethics 168
3.4 Consequentialism 171
3.5 Contractarianism 175
3.6 Cosmopolitanism 178
3.7 Critical Theory and Culture Critique 181
3.8 Discourse Ethics 183
3.9 Divine Command 185
3.10 Duty and Deontological Ethics 188
3.11 Egoism 192
3.12 Naturalism 195
3.13 Particularism 198
3.14 Perfectionism 200
3.15 Rationalism 203
3.16 Relativism 205
3.17 Relationality and Ubuntu 209
3.18 Subjectivism 213
3.19 Virtue Ethics 216
Part IV Assessment, Judgement, and Critique 221
4.1 Ability 221
4.2 Alienation 224
4.3 Authenticity 226
4.4 Class 229
4.5 Common Sense 232
4.6 Consistency 236
4.7 Counterexamples 238
4.8 Equality and Equity 241
4.9 Fairness 244
4.10 Fallacies 248
4.11 Impartiality and Objectivity 251
4.12 The Is/Ought Gap 255
4.13 Justice and Lawfulness 259
4.14 Moral Sentiment 262
4.15 Paternalism 265
4.16 Politics 268
4.17 Race 271
4.18 Reflective Equilibrium 275
4.19 Sex and Gender 277
4.20 Speciesism 280
4.21 Thought Experiments 284
4.22 Universality and Universalizability 286
Part V The Limits of Ethics 290
5.1 Akrasia 290
5.2 Casuistry and Rationalization 293
5.3 Extreme Circumstances, Grey Areas, and Liminal Cases 296
5.4 Fallenness 299
5.5 False Consciousness 302
5.6 Forgiveness and Mercy 306
5.7 Free Will and Determinism 309
5.8 Historical Distance and Time 313
5.9 Moral Luck 316
5.10 Nihilism and Amorality 319
5.11 Pluralism 322
5.12 Radical Disagreement 325
5.13 Radical Particularity 328
5.14 Scepticism 331
5.15 Self-deception 334
5.16 The Separateness of Persons 337
5.17 Standpoint 339
5.18 Supererogation 343
5.19 Tolerance 346
5.20 Tragedy 349
5.21 War 351
Appendix Resources for the Practice of Ethics 356
Index 360
PETER S. FOSL is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the PPE program at Transylvania University, Kentucky, USA. The author of Hume's Scepticism and the recipient of numerous teaching awards, Fosl was appointed the 2013-14 David Hume Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.
