Proceeding from the assumption that human beings desire pleasure (and avoid pain), this title uses the utilitarianism perspective to construct a calculus for determining which action to perform when confronted with situations requiring moral decision-making the goal of which is to arrive at the 'greatest happiness of the greatest number'.
What constitutes a biblical ethic? Should the Bible be construed as the only basis for moral teaching? Is morality dependent upon God and "revealed truths" found in scripture? This work features essays that demonstrate a diversity of perspective and breadth of insight that can shed much needed light on the nature of ethics.
Argues that it is possible to live the good life and be morally responsible, without belief in religion. This book contains chapters on privacy and human rights, and presents ethical recommendations as alternatives to various orthodoxies.
Showing the writings of European moral theologians and the writings of their American colleagues, this title uncovers various confusions that have bedeviled the argument while revealing how important the issues are for establishing in coherent Christian ethics in the twentieth century.
Attempts to offer a systematic treatment of ethics and the principles upon which it rests and seeks to give substance and meaning to human action, and to the manner in which we judge our own behaviour and that of others. This book offers a discussion of morality and an analysis of political life.
Perspectives from Philosophical and Theological Ethics
There may be no more urgent cry today than that of "justice" -- and no more frequent accusation than that of "injustice." But what is meant when these terms are used? Six Theories of Justice clarifies that question and offers major alternative answers. Dr. Lebacqz surveys three philosophical approaches to justice: John Stuart Mill's ......
The theoretical underpinnings of ethics have been an intellectual driving force animating the pursuits of great scholars. The author inquires into the true nature of morality. Rejecting the results of action as the foundation of moral judgements, he denies that good or bad effects have any relevance in the moral evaluation of human behaviour.
Beginning with John Courtney Murray's first forays into the public arena in the 1940s, this title plots Murray's movement away from the classical concepts of conscience and rights toward a historical understanding of moral agency and of the church's necessary engagement with a pluralistic world.
