Introduction to Applied Ethics

Robert L. Holmes is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Rochester, USA. His main research is in philosophy of war, the ethics of nonviolence, and contemporary moral problems. He is the author of Pacifism (2016) Basic Moral Philosophy (2006) and On War and Morality (1989), co-author of Philosophical Inquiry (1968), and co-editor of Nonviolence in Theory and Practice (1990).

Introduction

I

RACE, GENDER AND ETHNICITY
Chapter 1. RACISM
1.1 Basic Questions about Racism
1.2 What is Racism?
1.3 What is a Racist?
1.4 A Racist Philosophy
1.5 The Racist’s Burden of Proof
1.6 Is there such a Thing as “Race”?
1.7 Are Some “Races” Superior to Others?
1.8 Ought Innately Superior “Races” to dominate Inferior “Races”?
1.9 Race, Rights and Utility
1.10 Racism and Universalizability
1.11 Conclusion

Chapter 2. SEXISM
2.1 Basic Questions about Sexism
2.2 What is Sexism?
2.3 What is a Sexist?
2.4 The Sexist’s Burden of Proof
2.5 Is One Sex Innately Superior to the Other?
2.6 Ought One Sex to Dominate the Other?
2.7 Conclusion

Chapter 3. HISPANIC/LATINO ISSUES
3.1 Hispanics in America
3.2 Are Hispanics a “Race” or an Ethnic Group?
3.3 Naming
3.4 What Terms to Use and Who Should Decide?
3.5 Can “Hispanic” Be Defined?
3.6 Anti-Hispanic Discrimination
3.7 Hispanics, School Segregation, and Distributive Justice
3.9 Conclusion

Chapter 4. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND DIVERSITY
4.1 What is Affirmative Action?
4.2 The Evolution of Affirmative Action
4.3 Diversity to the Forefront
4.4 Affirmative Action and the University of Michigan
4.5 A Definition of Affirmative Action.
4.6 The Moral Issue.
4.7 Reparations?
4.8 Affirmative Action Distinguished from Reparations
4.9 Justice for Groups or for Individuals?
4.10 Is Affirmative Action Fair?
4.11 Diversity or Compensation for Past Injustice?
4.12 Conclusion

Chapter Five. SEXUAL HARASSMENT

5.1 What is Sexual Harassment?
5.2 The Potential for Misunderstanding
5.3 Sexual Harassment and Sex Discrimination
5.4 Is Sexual Harassment the Same as Sex Discrimination?
5.5 Sexual Harassment and Sexism
5.6 Sexual Harassment, Sexual Misconduct and Gender Harassment
5.7 Sexual Harassment and Privacy
5.8 Sexual Harassment and the University
5.9 Conclusion

II

PROFIT AND THE PLIGHT OF OTHERS

Chapter 6. CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

6.1 The Problem
6.2 What are Corporations?
6.3 Liberal and Conservative Positions on Corporate Social Responsibility
6.4 What is the Basic Obligation of Corporations?
6.5 Possible Objections to Corporate Responsibility
6.6 What Social Responsibilities?
6.7 Non-maleficence
6.8 Corporations and Distributive Justice
6.9 Corporations and the Making of Moral judgments
6.10 Conclusion

Chapter 7. POVERTY AND WORLD HUNGER

7.1 What is Poverty?
7.2 Is Poverty Always Bad? Voluntary and Involuntary Poverty
7.3 How Serious a Problem is Poverty?
7.4 Are We Obligated Individually to Fight Poverty?
7.5. Are We Obligated Collectively to Fight Poverty?
7.6 Are Efforts to Fight Poverty Futile Under Present Socio-economic Conditions?
7.7 Conclusion

Chapter 8. CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM

8.1 What are Capitalism and Socialism?
8.2 Freedom, Liberty and Rights
8.3 Natural Rights
8.4 Anarchism, Libertarianism, Conservatism and Liberalism
8.5 Liberty and Equality
8.6 Marxism
8.7 Historical Materialism
8.8 Surplus Value
8.9 A Capitalist Conception of Distributive Justice
8.10 Are There Contradictions within Capitalism?
8.11 Conclusion

III

ANIMALS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Chapter 9. CARING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

9.1 Why Care for the Environment?
9.2 Basic and Derivative Moral Considerations
9.3 Who or What Warrants Basic Moral Consideration?
9.4 Anthropocentrism
9.5 Sentientism
9.6 Biocentrism
9.7 Does Nature as a Whole Warrant Basic Moral Consideration?
9.8 An Argument for Giving Nature Basic Moral Consideration
9.9 An Anthropocentric Objection
9.10 Intended and Foreseeable Consequences of Environmental Impacts
9.11 Conclusion

Chapter 10. MORAL CONSIDERATION FOR ANIMALS

10.1 Kinds of Moral Consideration
10.2 Speciesism
10.3 Animals and Discrimination
10.4 Ought Humans to Dominate Animals?
10.5 Are Humans Naturally Superior to Animals?
10.6 What Extrinsic Value Does Human Intelligence Have?
10.7 Superiority and Dominance
10.8 Conclusion

IV

AUTONOMY AND THE INDIVIDUAL

Chapter 11. PRIVACY

11.1 Why is Privacy Important?
11.2 Philosophical and Legal Foundations of Privacy
11.3 The Definition of Privacy
11.4 Personal Autonomy
11.5 The Paradox of Privacy
11.6 Setting Boundaries
11.7 The Prima Facie Right to Privacy
11.8 Violating Privacy for Political, Social or Personal Ends
11.9 Privacy and Conflicting Values
11.10 Privacy and Technology
11.11 Conclusion

Chapter 12. ABORTION

12.1 Is There Neutral Language With Which to Discuss Abortion?
12.2 What is It That is Aborted?
12.3 A Medical Perspective
12.4 Whose Interests Warrant Moral Consideration in the Abortion Issue?
12.5 Roe v. Wade (1973)
12.6 A Woman’s “Right to Choose.”
12.7 Do Men Have Rights in the Abortion Issue?
12.8 Do the Unborn Have Rights?
12.9 Human Beings and Persons
12.10 Abortion and the Killing of the Innocent
12.11 What Precisely is Abortion?
12.12 Hare’s Golden Rule Argument
12.13 Toward a New Perspective on Abortion
12.14 The Basic Issue of Unwanted Pregnancy
12.15 Conclusion

Chapter 13. PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE

13.1 Suicide
13.2 Is There a Right to Die?
13.3 Active and Passive Euthanasia
13.4 The Quinlan, Cruzan and Schiavo Cases
13.5 Consciousness, Coma and Persistent Vegetative States
13.6 Killing and Letting Die
13.7 Is There a Moral Difference Between Killing and Letting Die?
13.8 Is There a Slippery Slope from Suicide to Assisted Suicide to Euthanasia?
13.9 The Case for a Logically Slippery Slope
13.10 Conclusion

V

THE NONCONSENSUAL TAKING OF HUMAN LIFE

Chapter 14. THE DEATH PENALTY

14.1 The Death Penalty in America
14.2 What is Punishment?
14.3 Deterrence and Retribution
14.4 What is Retributivism?
14.5 Objection to the Retributivist Justification of the Death Penalty
14.6 Is the Death Penalty a Deterrent?
14.7 Conclusion

Chapter 15. TERRORISM AND WAR

15.1 The Problem
15.2 What is Terrorism?
15.3 The Rationalization of Terrorism
15.4 Who Are Terrorists?
15.5 How Some Terrorists View Themselves
15.6 Terrorism and the Killing of Innocents
15.7 What is War?
15.8 Can War Be Morally Justified?
15.9 The Just War Theory
15.10 War and the Killing of Innocents
15.11 War and the Killing of Soldiers
15.12 Are Soldiers Morally Expendable?
15.13 Is There an Absolute Right to Kill in Self-Defense?
15.14 The Paradox of the Moral Expendability of Soldiers
15.15 Pacifism
15.16 Conclusion