Ideal for students with little or no background in philosophy, Ethical Choices: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy with Cases provides a concise, balanced, and highly accessible introduction to ethics. Featuring an especially lucid and engaging writing style, the text surveys a wide range of ethical theories and perspectives, including consequentialist ethics, deontological ethics, natural and virtue ethics, the ethics of care, and ethics and religion.

Each chapter of Ethical Choices also includes compelling case studies that are carefully matched with the theoretical material. Many of these cases address issues that students can relate directly to their own lives: student debt, healthcare costs, COVID-19 and vaccinations, grade inflation, generative AI, and video games. Other cases explore current topics like living wills, obesity, child marriage, factory farms, gambling addiction, and robot policing. The cases provide students with practice in addressing real-life moral choices, as well as opportunities to evaluate the usefulness and applicability of each ethical theory. Every case study concludes with a set of Thought Questions to guide students as they reflect upon the issues raised by that case.

Richard Burnor is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Institutional Review Board at Felician College. Dr. Burnor has published articles in the philosophy of science, metaphysics, and teaching philosophy.

Yvonne Raley was Associate Professor of Philosophy at Felician College.

Preface
Analyzing a Case

PART I Metaethics: Theory and Practice
Chapter 1 Morals and Values
1.1 Extraordinary and Ordinary Morals
1.2 Values
1.3 The Moral and The Nonmoral
1.4 Intrinsic and Instrumental Values
1.5 Values and Foundations
Values Exercise
Case 1.1: Public Breastfeeding
Case 1.2: The Student Debt Rollercoaster
Case 1.3: Uber Obstinacy

Chapter 2 Moral Relativism
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Three Views of Ethics
2.3 Evaluating Subjectivism
2.4 Arguing about Relativism
2.5 Against Relativism
2.6 A Matter of Tolerance
2.7 Beyond Cultural Relativism
Case 2.1: Student Relativism
Case 2.2: Arranged Marriage
Case 2.3: An Accident
Case 2.4: Female Genital Mutilation
Case 2.5: Vaccine Exemptions

Chapter 3 Autonomy, Moral Agency, and Self
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Personal Autonomy
3.3 Implications of Autonomy
3.4 Moral Agents
3.5 Filling in Autonomy
3.6 Developing the Self
Case 3.1: The Drunk Driver
Case 3.2: Elizabeth Bouvia
Case 3.3: What Should the Drinking Age Be?
Case 3.4: The Living Will
Case 3.5: Determining Racial Identity

Chapter 4 Making Moral Judgments
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Conflicts
4.3 Moral Claims
4.4 Moral Reasoning
4.5 Moral Reflection
Case 4.1: How Bot to Write an Essay
Case 4.2: Child Marriage
Case 4.3: Who's Responsible for Obesity?
Case 4.4: On Your Trail: AI and Robot Policing

Chapter 5 Psychology and Morality
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Situationism and Moral Character
5.3 Of Two Minds
5.4 Emotion and Moral Thinking
5.5 Altruism
Case 5.1: A Kindly Companion
Case 5.2: Nudges and Choice Architecture
Case 5.3: The Ethics of Belief
Case 5.4: Evaluating Expertise
Case 5.5: A COVID Party

PART II Ethical Theories and Perspectives
Chapter 6 Egoism
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Defending Ethical Egoism
6.3 A Frequent Dilemma
6.4 Assessing Ethical Egoism
6.5 Where Does Egoism Go Wrong?
Case 6.1: Declaring Wages
Case 6.2: A Scratched Bumper
Case 6.3: Job Competition
Case 6.4: MAD

Chapter 7 Consequentialism: Act Utilitarianism
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Utility and Consequentialism
7.3 Mill's Account
7.4 Act Utilitarianism
7.5 Advantages and Problems
7.6 Beyond Classical Utilitarianism
Case 7.1 Charity or Xbox
Case 7.2 Sponsoring a Child
Case 7.3 Should Your Next Car Be an EV?
Case 7.4 Factory Farming and Animal Suffering
Case 7.5 Torture Lite

Chapter 8 Consequentialism: Rule Utilitarianism
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Rule Utilitarianism
8.3 Rule versus Act Utilitarianism
8.4 Problems with Rule Utilitarianism
8.5 Justice and Rights Revisited
Case 8.1: Transgender Students and College Athletics
Case 8.2: Curbing Grade Inflation
Case 8.3: Mr. Tran and Wells Fargo
Case 8.4: Universal Healthcare
Case 8.5: Human Trafficking

Chapter 9 Deontology
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Ross's Ethics
9.3 Kant's Good Will
9.4 The Principle of Ends
9.5 The Principle of Universal Law
9.6 Attractions and Problems
9.7 Autonomy and Kant's Kingdom of Ends
Case 9.1: Internet Bride-Compliments of Asia
Case 9.2: A Demanding Honor Code
Case 9.3: The Ayala Case
Case 9.4: A Personal Decision
Case 9.5: Suicide

Chapter 10 Natural Law
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Natural Law Theory
10.3 Forfeiture
10.4 Double Effect
10.5 Assessing Natural Law Theory
Case 10.1: Pain and a Dying Patient
Case 10.2: Birth Control
Case 10.3: Just War Theory and Killing Noncombatants
Case 10.4: Persistent Vegetative State: The Case of Terri Schiavo

Chapter 11 Social Contracts and Rights
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Locke
11.3 Hobbes
11.4 Rawls
11.5 Some Assessments
11.6 More on Rights
11.7 Structural Violence
Case 11.1: Socrates's Imprisonment
Case 11.2: Lord of the Flies
Case 11.3: Locke and Load: Lockean Rights and Gun Control

Chapter 12 Virtue Ethics
12.1 Introduction
12.2 The Heart of Virtue Ethics
12.3 Aristotle's Virtue Ethics
12.4 Critiquing Principle-Based Ethics
12.5 Classifying the Virtues
12.6 Problems with Virtue Ethics
Case 12.1: The Unlikely Rescue
Case 12.2: PC Games
Case 12.3: Compulsive Internet Gambling
Case 12.4: Moral Luck
Case 12.5: Democracy in Switzerland

Chapter 13 Feminism and Care Ethics
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Feminist Ethics
13.3 The Care Perspective
13.4 Elements of Care Ethics
13.5 Problems
13.6 Care and Virtue
13.7 New Developments
Case 13.1: The Heinz Dilemma
Case 13.2: The International Gemstone Trade
Case 13.3: Parent Responsibility Toward Their In Utero Child
Case 13.4: Absolute Poverty

Chapter 14 Religion and the Basis of Morality
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Divine Command Theory
14.3 An Alternate Dependency Account
14.4 Objections and Elaborations
14.5 Religion, Individuals, and Society
Case 14.1: By Divine Command?
Case 14.2: Religious Symbols and Public Schools
Case 14.3: A Question of Authority
Case 14.4: Mountaintop Morality

PART III Applied Ethics
Chapter 15 Medical Futility
15.1 Introduction
15.2 Conflicts
Case 15.1: Infant Medical Futility
Case 15.2: National Triage
Case 15.3: Challenge Studies

Chapter 16 Ethics and Food
16.1 Introduction
16.2 The American Farm Bill
16.3 New Technologies
16.4 Other Changes
16.5 Food: Impossible?
Case 16.1: Beefy Burgers and a Lean Future
Case 16.2: Lake Victoria and Nile Perch
Case 16.3: The Real Price of Coffee

Chapter 17 Optimizing a Planet
17.1 Introduction
17.2 Optimization and Conflicts
17.3 Anthropocentrism and Ecocentrism
17.4 Today's Planetary Environment
17.5 A Morally Practical Response
Case 17.1: National Parks
Case 17.2: The Diesel Dupe
Case 17.3: The Triumph of the Commons
Case 17.4: All Washed Up
Case 17.5: Deep Ocean Ecosystems

Chapter 18 Obligations to Future Generations
18.1 Introduction
18.2 Can There Be Obligations Toward Nonexistent People?
18.3 Can There Be Obligations Toward Indeterminate People?
18.4 Is There an Obligation to Ensure a Future Humanity?
18.5 Guiding Principles
Case 18.1: The Inheritance
Case 18.2: Designer Babies
Case 18.3: Shock and AWS
Case 18.4: Juggling Lives, Health, and the Economy

Postscript: The Personal Dimension
Glossary
Index