Living philosophy: an introduction to moral thought

352 Pages·1993·1.8 MB·English

by  Ray Billington

Living Philosophy
Living Philosophy
An Introduction to Moral Thought
Second Edition
Ray Billington
London and New York
First published in 1988
by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
Second edition first published in 1993
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by
Routledge
29 West 35th Street, new York, NY 10001
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or
Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to
www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 1988, 1993, Ray Billington
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 0-203-00981-9 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-17430-5 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-10028-3 (Print Edition)
Without the strength provided by Alcoholics Anonymous
this book could have been no more than a shadow of
what it has become.
To all members of the Fellowship, known and unknown,
it is therefore dedicated.
My gratitude will be lifelong, but it can be expressed
‘a day at a time’.
A truly good man is not aware of his goodness,
And is therefore good.
A foolish man tries to be good,
And is therefore not good.
A truly good man does nothing,
Yet leaves nothing undone.
A foolish man is always doing,
Yet much remains to be done.
Therefore when Tao is lost, there is goodness.
When goodness is lost, there is kindness.
When kindness is lost, there is justice.
When justice is lost, there is ritual.
Therefore the truly great man dwells on what is real
and not what is on the surface,
On the fruit and not the flower.
Therefore accept the one and reject the other.
– Tao Te Ching
Contents
Preface to the first edition x
Preface to the second edition xiii
Section One: General theory of ethics
Chapter One: What is philosophy? 1
Case Study 1: Tolerance 14
Case Study 2: The best and the good 16
Chapter Two: The scope of ethics 18
Case Study 3: Love thy neighbour 41
Case Study 4: A total abstainer’s dilemma 42
Case Study 5: The parent’s right to know 43
Case Study 6: Changes in moral attitudes 45
Case Study 7: Is moral neutrality possible? 45
Chapter Three: Facts and values 47
Case Study 8: Censorship 57
Case Study 9: Pornography 61
Case Study 10: What is truth? 63
Chapter Four: Our knowledge of right and wrong 65
Case Study 11: Why be moral? 92
Case Study 12: Authority and autonomy 93
Case Study 13: Violence in the inner cities 96
Case Study 14: Male and female roles 98
Case Study 15: Ethics and the law 103
Section Two: Approaches to ethical theory
Chapter Five: Ends and means I: Kant 109
Case Study 16: Who shall live? 120
Case Study 17: Homicide 125
Case Study 18: Do your duty? 127
Case Study 19: The case of the lying Chancellor 128
vii
CONTENTS
Case Study 20: A personal inventory 130
Chapter Six: Ends and means II: Mill and utilitarianism 132
Case Study 21: Dealing with dilemmas 146
Case Study 22: Treatment of severely handicapped infants 149
Chapter Seven: Existentialism and ethics 151
Appendix: Expressions of Existentialist ideas 168
Case Study 23: Passing the buck or carrying the can? 172
Case Study 24: Who’s to blame? 173
Case Study 25: Existentialist dilemmas 174
Chapter Eight: Morality and religion 177
Case Study 26: The problem of suffering 196
Case Study 27: What is religion? 200
Case Study 28: Sexual morality 201
Case Study 29: Moral emphases in the world’s religions 203
Section Three: Issues in moral and practical philosophy
Chapter Nine: Moral maturity 207
Case Study 30: Assessing one’s autonomy 219
Case Study 31: Wonderwoman and Superman 221
Chapter Ten: Free will 223
Appendix: A breakdown of schools 240
Case Study 32: Are you free? 241
Case Study 33: Crime and punishment 242
Chapter Eleven: Ethics and politics 245
Case Study 34: Torture 263
Case Study 35: Pacifism and War 265
Case Study 36: Human rights 269
Case Study 37: Democracy, autocracy, anarchy 272
Case Study 38: The art of the possible? 273
Chapter Twelve: Ethics and education 274
Case Study 39: Education 291
Case Study 40: Peace studies in the curriculum 292
Case Study 41: Controversy in the classroom 294
Chapter Thirteen: Phi beta kappa 295
Case Study 42: The value of life 315
Case Study 43: Animal rights 318
Case Study 44: Too many people? 321
viii
CONTENTS
Appendices: Postscript to Case Study 16 323
Postscript to Case Study 24 323
Glossary of terms 325
Further reading 330
Index of names 332
Index of subjects 334
ix