The Fundamentals of Ethics
Retail Price to Students:
$29.95 (04)Description
In The Fundamentals of Ethics, Second Edition, author Russ Shafer-Landau employs a uniquely engaging writing style to introduce students to the essential ideas of moral philosophy. Offering more comprehensive coverage of the good life, normative ethics, and metaethics than any other text of its kind, this book also addresses issues that are often omitted from other texts, such as the doctrine of doing and allowing, the doctrine of double effect, ethical particularism, the desire-satisfaction theory of well-being, and moral error theory. Shafer-Landau carefully reconstructs and analyzes dozens of arguments in depth, at a level that is understandable to students with no prior philosophical background.NEW TO THE SECOND EDITION:
* Discussion questions at the end of every chapter provide students with immediate ways to test their understanding of the material
* New, real-life extended examples reinforce the importance of the theories discussed in Chapters 4, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15, and 19
* Greatly expanded coverage of moral rights (in Chapter 8) and of membership in the moral community (in Chapter 9)
* A new discussion of skepticism about morality in the Introduction
* An Instructor's Manual and Testbank on CD offers chapter summaries, more than 100 essay questions, more than 200 multiple-choice questions, and 200 PowerPoint-based lecture slides.
* A Companion Website at www.oup.com/us/shafer-landau contains all the material from the Instructor's Manual along with students resources including 250 multiple-choice questions, a glossary, and helpful web links.
Ideal for courses in introductory ethics and contemporary moral problems, this book can be used as a stand-alone text or with the author's companion reader, The Ethical Life: Fundamental Readings in Ethics and Moral Problems, Second Edition, which offers original readings on ethical theory and contemporary moral problems.
Reviews
"The book is written in a crystal-clear, accessible style that makes it an ideal choice for introductory courses in ethics. Indeed, this is one of the best textbooks on any subject I've ever come across. The organization and flow of the presentation, both within and across chapters, is terrific."--Philip Robbins, University of Missouri
"I believe this to be the best such introduction available. Shafer-Landau's The Fundamentals of Ethics surpasses Rachels' in several ways. First of all, Shafer-Landau's text is better organized. In short, whereas Rachels' text provides a laundry list, Shafer-Landau's offers a taxonomy, one that will help students to understand the relations among the various issues. Secondly, Shafer-Landau's text is both broader, covering more issues than Rachels' text, and deeper, covering those issues with more care and detail. Thirdly, I find Shafer-Landau's introduction to be more comprehensive and useful than Rachels' first chapter. Fourthly, Shafer-Landau's text includes a glossary of key terms. Shafer-Landau's is surely the best introductory text in ethics available."--Eugene Marshall, Wellesley College
"The writing is as clear as any I've seen in a philosophy textbook. I planned to use Rachels' two books in my redesigned course until I discovered Shafer-Landau's. Fundamentals and Elements are similar books. The main advantage of the former over the latter is that Shafer-Landau addresses more arguments. Shafer-Landau is much stronger on metaethics, as is especially apparent in Chapter 21. Overall, I find the discussions in Fundamentals of Ethics to be richer and deeper than those in Rachels' Elements of Moral Philosophy."--Jeffrey Brand-Ballard, George Washington University
"Shafer-Landau's book is top notch. I'm convinced that it's the clearest, most accessible introduction to ethics available. I've already told my students that they should model their writing on Shafer-Landau's; I think that he's one of the clearest writers around. I've read introductory texts that are wonderfully clear to me, but the sentence structure and diction is too complex for students to imitate. Shafer-Landau obviously worked hard to write for undergraduates."--Robert Fischer, University of Illinois at Chicago
"I find Fundamentals of Ethics more accessible for the students [than Rachels' Elements of Moral Philosophy]. My TAs and I reviewed the book before I selected it, and they were quite enthusiastic that our students would be more engaged with this text. The price reduction for the bundle [of this text with its reader, The Ethical Life] is most welcome!."--Craig Hanks, Texas State University
"It seems to me that the greatest strength of The Fundamentals of Ethics is the time it takes to explain why any of the theories it covers might be taken seriously, before it points out their flaws. The Rachels book often leaves one feeling that some major normative theories are so obviously wrong that it's a wonder they were ever contenders in the first instance. Putting the technical terms that he has used in boldface, with an associated glossary, is very helpful."--Richard Hine, University of Connecticut
"This is the most readable introduction to ethics I know. Shafer-Landau's prose is delightfully personal, accessible, and free of unnecessary jargon. At every turn the author provides illuminating examples and cases that help students understand and keep them engaged. There's a natural, easy, and logical progression to the book. While it's possible to teach the chapters in pretty much any order, Shafer-Landau has arranged the book very effectively so that chapters build on each other. The text is remarkably comprehensive despite its brevity and easy style. Perfect format--a small text, simple, inexpensive. Rachels' style, though neat and clear, is not nearly as inviting nor as pleasant as Shafer-Landau's. In terms of coverage, the texts are very similar, although the Shafer-Landau text is more comprehensive. The price of the text was a significant consideration."--Brian L. Merrill, Brigham Young University-Idaho
"This is a great little book. An efficient and no-nonsense evaluation of actual arguments, put clearly in premise-conclusion form, leads the reader, in a very natural Socratic way, to ask questions concerning the grounding of moral claims. Another strength is simply the accessible language. The index and the glossary are very helpful."--Patrick Linden, Hunter College and NYU Poly
"Shafer-Landau's writing is superb. I think it is about as good as one could hope for while maintaining a sufficient respect for rigor. Shafer-Landau's text hits the mark with respect to a balance of accessibility and challenging material."--Darren Hibbs, Nova Southeastern University
"I was surprised both by the range of theories in normative ethics and metaethics that the book covers, as well as by the degree to which each of them is examined. The list price of $29.95 should be a real selling point for instructors looking to adopt new texts. It's a strength that the book includes a glossary of all of the technical terms in employs. I also appreciate that each of those words appears in bold on its first use in the text."--Robert Lane, University of West Georgia
Available Resources
Companion Resources
The following resources are available from the "The Fundamentals of Ethics, 2e" companion site:
