Peter Kirby

I'd like to know which books people would recommend about ethics.

best,
Peter Kirby

keyser_soze

I pretty much got my ethical basis in 4th grade from two books, La morte de arthur(king arthur) and The count of monte cristo. Yeah, I know, not exactly plutarch...but I formed my ethics early. Everything after just fine tuned it. And, of course they are probably not the best sources on earth, but hey, when you're that young...The librarian has some impact on youth.

keyser_soze

I would suggest locke if you are looking for something a little more high-brow...but I think you probably already read him.:notworthy

Alonzo Fyfe

What I would recommend for others to read: J.L. Mackie: ETHICS: INVENTING RIGHT AND WRONG

Also, J.S. Mill, UTILITARIANISM


Presently reading: Henry Sidgwick: THE METHODS OF ETHICS; G.E. Moore PRINCIPIA ETHICA.

(Okay, I confess. I read them before. But, since I am writing my own views on ethics, as it were, in another thread, I need to re-read these before I write the relevant chapters.)

Dr. Retard

Right now I don't have access to a library, so I'm reading nothing but pdfs. But:

Derek Parfit, Jean Hampton, David Gauthier, J. L. Mackie, Michael Smith, Geoffrey Sayre-McCord, David Brink, Thomas Nagel, Gilbert Harman, Ronald Dworkin, David Schmidtz, Simon Blackburn, Christine Korsgaard, off the top of my head.

If you want to read classics (though I'm not too well-read when it comes to classics): Plato, Kant, Mill, and Hume. Hume on ethics is way too neglected, IMO. Especially the Second Enquiry.

excreationist

I would recommend books written by Kohlberg or books talking about his writings. He basically analyses the moralities of people including the stages it seems to go through as it develops throughout people's lives. Here's a basic summary. His work is often referred to developmental psychology textbooks. He isn't trying to determine what truly is moral and what isn't - he's studying the opinions of everyday people.

ManM

"The Ladder of Divine Ascent" by John Climacus is always a good one.

Pyrrho

I couldn't agree more. In my opinion, Hume's remarks supply a refutation of some ethical systems that have, in the past hundred years or so, become fashionable in some circles, but most choose to ignore Hume rather than make any attempt at coming to terms with what he had to say. This is often true of his other works of philosophy as well, though, perhaps, to a somewhat lesser extent, as people actually mention some of his other ideas from time to time before they then proceed to ignore them. It is far easier to ignore Hume than to refute him; and people being naturally lazy, prefer the easier course.

I would add, however, that his A Treatise of Human Nature is also worth looking into, after reading his Enquiries. But I agree, his Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals is a great book that every student of ethics should read.

Pyrrho

If you want a balanced view of ethics, I recommend a wide variety of books, with diverse points of view. I also recommend reading original texts (even if only in translation), rather than summaries by others. With that in mind, here are some books I recommend:

Plato, The Trial and Death of Socrates, Dover Publications, Inc., ISBN 0-486-27066-1 (This contains the Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo.)

Plato, The Republic, F.M. Cornford, trans., Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-500364-0

Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics, D. Ross, trans., rev., Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-283407-X

Gaskin, John, ed., The Epicurean Philosophers, Everyman, ISBN 0-460-87607-4 (This contains works by Epicurus and other Epicureans; it is not simply a book about them.)

Epictetus, The Discourses, the Handbook, and Fragments, Everyman, ISBN 0-460-87312-1

Augustine, Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love, Regnery Publishing, ISBN 0-89526-703-9

Hobbes, Thomas, Leviathan, E. Curley, ed., Hackett Publishing Co., Inc., ISBN 0-87220-177-5 (The text of this version has been modernized, which, for most people, is an advantage, though if you want the original text, you may want the edition published by Cambridge instead.)

Hume, David, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Hackett Publishing Co., Inc., ISBN 0-915145-45-6 (The Selby-Bigge/Nidditch version, published by Oxford, is better, but with such a long list of books, I thought I would mention a cheaper alternative that you may find acceptable.)

Kant, Immanuel, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Macmillan Publishing Co., ISBN 0-02-307825-1

Mill, John Stuart, Utilitarianism, Hackett Publishing Co., Inc., ISBN 0-915144-41-7


The last time I checked, all of the above were in print, and fairly inexpensive. Both of those were considerations when compiling my list of recommended books, though they are not all the cheapest editions available, as some are so poorly done that they are not worth owning (e.g., the Dover Thrift edition of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, where not all of the words are even translated, and the Prometheus edition of Hobbes' Leviathan, which is sold as the whole book, but is really only the first half (fraud?) or the Prometheus edition of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, as they have reprinted a book, renumbering the pages, so that all of the internal references that the book contains systematically take you to the wrong page, in addition to the fact that some of the references are to a different edition, though Prometheus eliminated the note explaining this (incompetence?); in general, I recommend avoiding Prometheus editions of classic texts in philosophy, though their Epicurus is worth considering if you can't find the edition mentioned above). Readability of the various editions was also a factor in these selections, as, for example, Kant is difficult enough without having to deal with a poorly worded translation.

And, naturally, we may expect that some other people will prefer different editions to the ones mentioned above.

It should also be fairly obvious that I do not agree with all of the above philosophers; indeed, at most, one of them is completely correct, since they all disagree with the others to some extent. But they are all important historically, and you should be aware of what they had to say if you want to know about ethics.

If you are afraid of such a long list of books, and such lengthy readings, you could, instead, purchase Ethical Theories: A Book of Readings, 2nd edition with revisions, A.I. Melden, ed. This book contains reasonable selections from all of the above philosophers, in addition to a few more (some selections are entire books, like the Kant and Mill mentioned above, though different 'editions' from those mentioned above). And the translations are generally quite good, too. I personally prefer, however, the complete books, published separately, but you may like to have it "all" in one small package.

Bill Snedden

I'm not currently reading it, but Iris Murdoch's Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals is a highly interesting if somewhat dense read. Murdoch suggests a metaphysical approach to morality through examination of literature and philosophy throughout history.

H.H. the Dalai Lama has also authored several books on ethics from a humanistic standpoint. Ethics for the New Millennium, An Open Heart, and The Art of Happiness are a few. He advocates an ethical system grounded in compassion (big surprise!). He comes somewhat short of offering rigorous argument to support his positions, but his writing is compelling nonetheless.

Regards,

Bill Snedden