MORAL PHILOSOPHY, THE ETHICAL APPROACH THROUGH THE AGES

Moral Philosophy from Socrates to the 21st Aeon has shown three constant themes. 1. Disagreements over whether ethical judgments are truths about the world or only reflections of the wishes of those who make them, 2. Frequent attempts to show, in the face of considerable scepticism, either that it is in one's own interests to do what is good or that, even though this is not necessarily in one's own interests, it is the rational thing to do, 3. Repeated debates over just what goodness and the standard of right and wrong might be. The 21st century has seen new twists to these old themes and an increased attention to the application of ethics to practical problems. Each of these major questions is considered in this book, in terms of meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics.