Human Kindness and the Smell of Warm Croissants: An Introduction to Ethics

Ruwen Ogien

Published by Columbia University Press 2015

Human Kindness and the Smell of Warm Croissants

An Introduction to Ethics

Ruwen Ogien
Translated by: Martin Thom

https://doi.org/10.7312/ogie16922

Overview
Contents

About this book

Human Kindness and the Smell of Warm Croissants makes philosophy fun, tactile, and popular. Moral thinking is simple, Ruwen Ogien argues, and as inherent as the senses. In our daily experiences, in the situations we confront and in the scenes we witness, we develop an understanding of right and wrong as sophisticated as the moral outlook of the world's most gifted philosophers. By drawing on this knowledge to navigate life's most perplexing problems, ethics becomes second nature.

Ogien explores, through experimental philosophy and other methods, the responses nineteen real-world conundrums provoke. Is a short, mediocre life better than no life at all? Is it acceptable to kill a healthy person so his organs can save five others? Would you swap a "natural" life filled with frustration, disappointment, and partial success for a world in which all of your needs are met, but through artificial and mechanical means? Ogien doesn't seek to show how difficult it is to determine right from wrong or how easy it is for humans to become monsters or react like saints. Helping us tap into the wisdom and feeling we already possess in our ethical "toolboxes," Ogien instead encourages readers to question moral presuppositions and rules; embrace an intuitive sense of dignity, virtue, and justice; and pursue a pluralist ethics suited to the principles of human kindness.

Author / Editor information

Ruwen Ogien holds doctorates in both philosophy and social anthropology. He is a director of research in moral philosophy at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and sits on the editorial board of the review Raison Publique. His most recent works include Le corps et l'argent and La vie, la mort, l'état: Le débat bioéthique.

Martin Thom was trained in social anthropology and is a professional translator, editor, and writer.

Reviews

A lucid translation of a wide-ranging intellectual foray.

Laurence Thomas, Syracuse University:
Human Kindness and the Smell of Warm Croissants is Ruwen Ogien at his very best. The book's richness lies in Ogien's endeavor to do philosophy from the reality of lived experience rather than the kind of imaginary reflection that is characteristic of so much of philosophy.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Preface: An Antimanual of Ethics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Introduction: What is the Use of Thought Experiments? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xiii
Part I. Problems, Dilemmas, and Paradoxes: Nineteen Moral Puzzles
1. Emergencies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. The Child Who is Drowning in a Pond Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
3. A Transplant Gone Mad Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
4. Confronting a Furious Crowd Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
5. The Killer Trolley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
6. Incest in All Innocence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	42
7. The Amoralist Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	56
8. The Experience Machine Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
9. Is a Short and Mediocre Life Preferable to No Life at All? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
10. I Would Have Preferred Never to Have Been Born Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
11. Must We Eliminate Animals in Order to Liberate Them? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	76
12. The Utility Monster Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
13. A Violinist Has Been Plugged Into Your Back Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
14. Frankenstein, Minister of Health Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
15. Who Am I Without My Organs? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
16. And If Sexuality Were Free? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	104
17. It Is Harder to Do Good Intentionally Than It Is to Do Evil Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
18. We Are Free, Even If Everything Is Written in Advance Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
19. Monsters and Saints Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Part II. The Ingredients of the Moral “Cuisine”
20. Intuitions and Rules Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
21. A Little Method! Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
22. What Remains of Our Moral Intuitions? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	138
23. Where Has the Moral Instinct Gone? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	142
24. A Philosopher Aware of the Limits of His Moral Intuitions Is Worth Two Others, Indeed More Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
25. Understand the Elementary Rules of Moral Reasoning Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	154
26. Dare to Criticize the Elementary Rules of Moral Argument Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Edition: Pilot project. eBook available to selected US libraries only
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 256

eBook

Published: May 19, 2015
ISBN: 9780231539241