RSS
Ethical Systems
J.P. Moreland, The Simon Greenleaf Law Review 8 (1989), pp. 25-55.
But apart from a pure interest in scholarship, why should Evangelicals
care whether or not Rawls was Kantian? In recent years, there has been
tremendous growth in the number of Bioethics Committees in acute and
long term health care facilities. Since these committees are
interdisciplinary, their membership is open to lawyers, nurses, social
workers, doctors, clergy, and laymen, and others who are not trained in
moral philosophy. There is a danger in this. Some of the literature on
bioethics which is used to train people to serve on Bioethics
Committees blurs or minimizes the distinction between deontological and
utilitarian normative theories because both theories (especially the
rule varieties of each) often imply the same moral decision. One
example of this minimization of the distinction between deontological
and utilitarian theories is Rawls. He is often listed as an example of
a deontological theory, but I hope to show that he is closer to
utilitarianism. ~ An Excerpt
Roger Crisp (Oxford University Press: October 2006), 176 pages.
In Reasons and the Good Roger Crisp answers some of the oldest questions in moral philosophy. Fundamental to ethics, he claims, is the idea of ultimate reasons for action; and he argues controversially that these reasons don't depend on moral concepts. He investigates the nature of reasons themselves, and how we come to know them. He defends a hedonistic theory of well-being and an account of practical reason according to which we can give some, though not overriding, priority to our own good over that of others. ~ Product Description • "Roger Crisp's Reason and the Good defends, in a forthright and amiable style, quite an array of doctrines in metaethics and normative ethics, many of which challenge orthodoxy.... this bold and sweeping work contains quite a number of provocative discussions of interest to theoretical ethicists of many stripes." ~ Chris Heathwood, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
William J. Wainwright (Ashgate Publishing: May 2005), 264 pages.
Covering a broad range of topics, this book draws on both historical and contemporary literature, and explores afresh central issues of morality and religion offering new insights for students, academics and the general reader interested in philosophy and religion. • "It is well-written, cogent, the analyses were informative and detailed (but not so detailed they'd put you to sleep) and the arguments rigorous, clear and cogent. ... Wainwright is a top notch Kant scholar, and you can see he has a passion for the man's work when he discusses Kant's argument for the existence of God. The arguments are so clear, so simple, and he defends them so well, I'm almost tempted to write in the margins 'QED'. I really thought Wainwright shed new light on this subject, and pulled effectively from other scholars who have done work on it. The same is true of his analysis of the argument from the phenomenology of conscience. His presentation, his analysis of possible objections and his counter-arguments are like water, this way truth lies. ~ Plantinganut at Amazon.com
J. Daryl Charles (William B. Eerdmans: April 2008), 344 pages.
Restating what all people intuit and what this means in moral, specifically bioethical, discourse is the raison d’être for this volume. J. Daryl Charles argues that a traditional metaphysics of natural law lies at the heart of the present reconstructive project, and that a revival in natural-law thinking is of the highest priority for the Christian community as we contend in, rather than abdicate, the public square. Nowhere is this more on display than in the realm of bioethics, where the most basic moral questions — human personhood, human rights versus responsibilities, the reality of moral evil, the basis of civil society — are being debated. With his timely application of natural-law thinking to the field of bioethics, Charles seeks to breathe new life back into this key debate. ~ Product Description