A Guide to Ethics and Moral Philosophy

A student's guide to ethics and moral philosophy in its historical context How should we live? How should we act? How might we live? These are the three questions of moral philosophy.

Brent Adkins traces the history of ethics and morality by examining six thinkers: Aristotle, Spinoza, Kant, Mill, Nietzsche and Levinas.

The book is divided into 3 sections: Ethics, Morality and Beyond. Two thinkers are paired in each section to show you how the important questions of moral philosophy have been answered so that you might better answer them for yourself.

You'll learn what the philosophers actually said about how to live the best kind of life and, more importantly, why.

Key Features

• Each chapter includes definitions of key terms
• The end of each chapter includes summaries and discussion questions which reinforce and apply the material
• The discussion of each thinker is centred on a specific text for ease of reference and clarity of understanding T
• exts analysed include: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Spinoza's Ethics, Kant's Groundwork, Mill's Utilitarianism, Nietzsche's Genealogy and Levinas' 'Ethics as First Philosophy'
• Includes a glossary as well as a helpful timeline to contextualise each philosopher's life and work

Brent Adkins is Professor of Philosophy at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia, USA. His primary interests are 19th and 20th Century European philosophy, Modern Philosophy, and politics.