Contemporary Debates in Applied Ethics

Contemporary Debates in Applied Ethics features original essays on some of the most hotly debated issues in the field. Is abortion morally permissible? Should we be allowed to clone human beings? Should immigration be limited, or left open?

Eleven pairs of newly commissioned essays shape the volume, with each question treated by a pair of opposing essays. This distinctive format offers readers a unique opportunity to observe philosophers engaging in head–to–head debate. Together, the essays provide an accessible introduction to the major topics in applied ethics, including abortion, affirmative action, animals, capital punishment, cloning, euthanasia, immigration, pornography, privacy and civil society, values in nature, and world hunger.

Showcasing original arguments for well–defined positions, as well as clear and concise statements of sophisticated philosophical views, this volume is an excellent resource for professional philosophers and students alike.

Acknowledgments.

Notes on Contributors.

Introduction.

Abortion.

1. The Wrong of Abortion, Patrick Lee (Franciscan University of Steubenville) and Robert P. George (Princeton University).

2. The Moral Permissibility of Abortion, Margaret Olivia Little (Georgetown University).

Affirmative Action.

3. A Defense of Affirmative Action, Albert Mosley (Smith College).

4. Preferential Policies Have Become Toxic, Celia Wolf–Devine (Stonehill College) Animals.

5. Empty Cages: Animals Rights and Vivisection, Tom Regan (North Carolina State University).

6. Animals and Their Medical Use, R. G. Frey (Bowling Green State University).

Capital Punishment.

7. A Defense of the Death Penalty, Louis P. Pojman (U.S. Military Academy).

8. Why We Should Put the Death Penalty to Rest, Stephen Nathanson (Northeastern University).

Cloning.

9. Why I Oppose Human Cloning, Jeremy Rifkin (author of The Biotech Century).

10. The Poverty of Objections to Human Reproductive Cloning, John Harris (University of Manchester).

Euthanasia.

11. In Defense of Voluntary Active Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, Michael Tooley (University of Colorado).

12. A Case Against Euthanasia, Daniel Callahan (Harvard Medical School).

Immigration.

13. Immigration: The Case for Limits, David Miller (University of Oxford).

14. The Case for Open Immigration, Chandran Kukathas (University of Utah).

Pornography.

15. The Right to Get Turned On:Pornography, Autonomy, Equality, Andrew Altman (Georgia State University).

16. "The Price We Pay"?: Pornography and Harm, Susan J. Brison (Dartmouth College).

Privacy and Civil Society.

17. The Limits of Privacy, Amitai Etzioni (George Washington University).

18. The Case for Privacy, David D. Friedman (Santa Clara University).

Values in Nature.

19. The Intrinsic Value of Nature in Public Policy: The Case of the Endangered Species Act, J. Baird Callicott (University of North Texas).

20. Values in Nature: A Pluralistic Approach, Bryan G. Norton (Georgia Institute of Technology).

World Hunger.

21. Famine Relief: The Duties We Have to Others, Christopher Heath Wellman (Washington University in St. Louis).

22. Famine Relief and Human Virtue, Andrew I. Cohen (Georgia State University).

Index

Andrew I. Cohen is Associate Director of the Jean Beer Blumenfeld Center for Ethics and teaches in the Department of Philosophy at Georgia State University.

Christopher Heath Wellman is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis. He is co–editor, with R. G. Frey, of A Companion to Applied Ethics (Blackwell 2003).

It s hard to think of a better general introduction to contemporary debates in applied ethics and public policy. The editors have enlisted well–known philosophers to pair off on particular controversies, and they do so ably and instructively. This volume will work well as a textbook for university courses. Christopher Morris, University of Maryland

Great writers joining debate on great topics. Cohen and Wellman have assembled an admirably compact volume, given its breadth. It will be of considerable service to teachers of moral problems courses and to anyone with an interest in the cutting edge of applied ethics. David Schmidtz, University of Arizona