Thinking About Ethics [Book Review]

Review of Metaphysics 30 (2):356-357 (1976)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This short book is designed to introduce the reader to normative ethics and to argue that a modified version of Ross’s theory is the most defensible moral position. As an introductory text, it has the virtue of being entertainingly written and of providing analyses of such popular topics as sexual morality, racial discrimination, and the sanctity of life. In some sections, however, the material is presented so concisely that students will have difficulty understanding it. For example, the ten pages devoted to explaining and refuting several variants of utilitarianism are insufficient to provide an adequate grasp of the issues. Despite its brevity and introductory character, the book provides some fresh arguments that should interest philosophers. One such argument is the defense of Revised Ranked Ross Rules, a position which the author contends is closest to our common moral convictions. This modification of Ross’s position ranks various rules in the order of their importance and, as a result, supposedly is a better moral guide than Ross’s non-ordered set of rules. One criticism often raised against Ross’s position, which seems equally appropriate to Purtill’s, is that the application of the rules requires intuitive moral appraisals; although Purtill’s rules have an initial ranking, no mechanical application of them is possible since an act called for by the highest ranked rule might not produce the most good. Purtill acknowledges that his initial ranking does not preclude the need to decide which rule should be followed in a particular situation, but he denies that this type of decision requires any form of intuition. In a discussion that should be developed in some future work, he claims that basic human wants and interests provide an objective basis for those decisions.—M.G.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 92,931

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Moral vision: how everyday life shapes ethical thinking.Duane L. Cady - 2005 - Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Moral Thinking in Management.Lynn Sharp Paine - 1996 - Business Ethics Quarterly 6 (4):477-492.
Forms of ethical thinking in therapeutic practice.Derek Hill & Caroline Jones (eds.) - 2003 - Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Thinking and being otherwise: Aesthetics, ethics, erotics.Mark Freeman - 2012 - Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology 32 (4):196-208.
A Research On Thinking Types.Yang Zu-li & Tian-wen Wang - 2007 - Nankai University (Philosophy and Social Sciences) 1:93-100.
The Ethical Situation and Anglogical Thinking.Hsien-Chung Lee - 2000 - Philosophy and Culture 27 (9):828-836.
Body Thinking, Story Thinking, Religion.Wu Kuang-Ming - 2013 - Open Journal of Philosophy 3 (4):479.
Globalization: key thinkers.Andrew Jones - 2010 - Malden, MA: Polity.

Analytics

Added to PP
2012-03-18

Downloads
13 (#1,063,856)

6 months
1 (#1,512,999)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references