AContemporary MoralProblems Book Review

Evan Severino

Evan SeverinoAll Rights Reserved

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Table of Contents

I. James Rachels: Egoism and Moral SkepticismII. John Arthur: Religion, Morality and ConscienceIII. Friedrich Nietzsche: Master and Slavery MoralityIV. Mary Midgley: Trying Out One’s New SwordV. John Stuart Mill: UtilitarianismVI. James Rachels: The Debate Over UtilitarianismVII. Immanuel Kant: The Categorical ImperativeVIII. Aristotle: Happiness and VirtueIX. Joel Feinberg: The Nature and Value of RightsX. Ronald Dworkin: Taking Rights SeriouslyXI. John Rawls: A Theory of JusticeXII. Annette Baier: The Need for More Than Justice

Contemporary Moral Problems

Book Review Chapter 1: Ethical Theories:James Rachels: Egoism and Moral SkepticismLibrary Reference: N/AAmazon:http://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Moral-Problems-James-White/dp/0534584306/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233793391&sr=8-1Quote:

“the agents merely doing what he most wants to do”

Basically, this is the first argument for psychological egoism. This is actually an unselfish actbecause the agent only does what he wants to do. All voluntary actions are motivated by agents.Learning Expectation:I would definitely want to learn what Egoism and Moral Scepticism is because this is actuallythe first time in my life I have ever heard of such term. It really sounds esoteric in a way that it makesme don’t want to hear about it. Obviously I am not much of a fan of philosophy. But for the sake ofknowing what it means, I can bear it.Review:So this part of the chapter is all about Egoism and Moral Skepticism. To tell you or to give youa brief introduction of the author, James Rachels, he is a University Professor of Philosophy at theUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham. He is also the author of several books about philosophy.So what is Egoism? Egoism is actually divided in to two, which are psychological and ethical egoism.The first one is where one acts very selfish. They only do things that would benefit themselves.They’d do things that they want. Men are selfish in everything that they do. On the other hand, ethicalegoism is the contrary. It is an unselfish act. People do things or do what they have interest in only.Regardless of what it may be, just as long as they love what they are doing, they don’t care aboutothers. Plus, they have no obligation to do anything but their interest.What I’ve learned:I have learned what egoism finally is. Egoism is an act of man, which is selfish. This means thata man is selfish in everything that he does. This falls under the first division of egoism, as there aretwo. The other one is ethical egoism, which states that a man has no obligation to do anything but hisown interest.