PART I: The Story as a Tool of Ethics
Chapter 1: Thinking About Values
The Best of Times, the Worst of Times
Good and Evil
Morals, Ethics, and Values
Why Be Moral?
Debating Moral Issues
Martha Nussbaum, Stories Have Value
Primary Reading: Martha Nussbaum, Love's Knowledge
Narrative: How to Be Good
Narrative: Smoke Signals
Narrative: Big Fish
Chapter 2: Learning Moral Lessons from Stories
Didactic Stories
The New Interest in Stories
The Value of Stories
Stories Past and Present
Stories to Live and Die By
Seeing Your Life as a Story
Living in the Narrative Zone
Primary Reading: Plato, The Republic
Primary Reading: Aristotle, Poetics
Primary Reading: Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose
Primary Reading: Tristine Rainer, Your Life as Story
Narrative: Medea
Narrative: The Sorrows of Young Werther
Narrative: Pulp Fiction
PART II: What Should I Do? Theories of Conduct
Chapter 3: Ethical Relativism
How to Deal with Moral Differences
The Lessons of Anthropology
Problems with Ethical Relativism
Refuting Ethical Relativism
Ethical Relativism and Multiculturalism
Primary Reading: Ruth Benedict, "Anthropology and the Abnormal"
Primary Reading: Dwight Furrow, "Of Cave Dwellers and Spirits"
Primary Reading: Bhikhu Parekh, "The Concept of Multicultural Education"
Narrative: The Poisonwood Bible
Narrative: Possessing the Secret of Joy
Narrative: Sideshow
Narrative: Do the Right Thing
Chapter 4: Myself or Others?
Psychological Egoism
Ethical Egoism
Altruism: Ideal and Reciprocal
Primary Reading: Plato, The Republic
Primary Reading: Erik Katz, "The Rings of Tolkien and Plato"
Primary Reading: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
Primary Reading: Ayn Rand, "The Ethics of Emergencies"
Narrative: Friends
Narrative: Return to Paradise
Narrative: Madame Bovary
Narrative: Atlas Shrugged
Narrative: "The Gift of the Magi"
Narrative: The Lord of the Rings
Chapter 5: Using Your Reason, Part 1: Utilitarianism
Jeremy Bentham and the Hedonistic Calculus
John Stuart Mill: Another Utilitarian Vision
Act and Rule Utilitarianism
Primary Reading: Jeremy Bentham, "Of the Principle of Utility"
Primary Reading: John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism
Narrative: "The Blacksmith and the Baker"
Narrative: The Brothers Karamazov
Narrative: "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"
Narrative: Saving Private Ryan
Narrative: Extreme Measures
Narrative: Runaway Jury
Chapter 6: Using Your Reason, Part 2: Kant's Deontology
The Good Will
The Categorical Imperative
Rational Beings Are Ends in Themselves
Primary Reading: Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals
Primary Reading: Immanuel Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals
Narrative: High Noon
Narrative: Outland
Narrative: Cop Land
Narrative: Abandon Ship!
Narrative: The Insider
Chapter 7: Personhood, Rights, and Justice
What Is a Human Being?
Persons and Rights
Questions of Rights
Distributive Justice
Criminal Justice
Primary Reading: The United Nations Universal Declaration of Rights
Primary Reading: John Rawls, "Justice as Fairness"
Primary Reading: Martin Luther King, Jr., "A Letter from Birmingham Jail"
Primary Reading: Diane Whitely, "The Victim and the Justification of Punishment"
Narrative: Blade Runner
Narrative: Gattaca
Narrative: Mississippi Burning
Narrative: Outbreak
Narrative: Minority Report
PART III: How Should I Be? Theories of Virtue
Chapter 8: Socrates, Plato, and the Good Life
What Is Virtue?
The Good Teacher
The Good Life
The Virtuous Person
Plato's Theory of Forms
Primary Reading: Plato, Euthyphro
Primary Reading: Plato, Apology
Narrative: A Man for All Seasons
Narrative: "The Myth of the Cave"
Narrative: The Truman Show
Narrative: "The Store of the Worlds"
Narrative: Shrek
Chapter 9: Aristotle's Virtue Theory
Aristotle the Scientist
Aristotle and Virtue
Aristotle's Influence on Aquinas
Some Objections to Greek Virtue Theory
Primary Reading: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book II
Primary Reading: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book III
Narrative: "The Flight of Icarus"
Narrative: Njal's Saga
Narrative: Lord Jim
Narrative: "A Piece of Advice"
Narrative: As Good as it Gets
Chapter 10: Contemporary Perspectives
Ethics and the Morality of Virtue
Have Virtue, and Then Go Ahead: Mayo, Foot, and Sommers
The Quest for Authenticity: Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Sartre, and Levinas
Primary Reading: Soren Kierkegaard, Johannes Climacus
Primary Reading: Soren Kierkegaard, Either/Or
Primary Reading: Emmanuel Levinas, "The Paradox of Morality: An Interview with Emmanuel Levinas"
Narrative: Hannah and her Sisters
Narrative: No Exit
Narrative: A Few Good Men
Chapter 11: Case Studies in Virtues
Courage: What Is It, and Who Has It?
Compassion: Are We Born with It?
Gratitude: How Much and When?
Virtue and Conduct: A Combination?
Primary Reading: John McCain, Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life
Primary Reading: Philip Hallie, Tales of Good and Evil, Help and Harm
Primary Reading: Lin Yutang, "On Growing Old Gracefully"
Narrative: Band of Brothers
Narrative: The Life of Tom Horn
Narrative: "The Parable of the Good Samaritan"
Narrative: "King Yudisthira and the Dog"
Narrative: Schindler's List
Narrative: Eat Drink Man Woman
Narrative: Pay It Forward
Narrative: Grand Canyon
Chapter 12: Different Gender, Different Ethic?
Feminism and Virtue Theory
What Is Gender Equality?
Women's Historical Role in the Public Sphere
First-, Second-, and Third-Wave Feminism
Facets of Feminism Today
Primary Reading: Harriet Taylor Mill, "Enfranchisement of Women"
Primary Reading: Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
Primary Reading: Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice
Primary Reading: Deborah Tannen, Talking from 9 to 5
Narrative: A Doll's House
Narrative: Like Water for Chocolate
Narrative: "The Woman Destroyed"
Narrative: Mona Lisa Smile
Chapter 13: Applied Ethics: A Sampler
Media Ethics
Theory of a Just War
Animal Welfare and Animal Rights
The Death Penalty
Stories and Issues: A Final Word
Primary Reading: Andrew Belsey and Ruth Chadwick, "Ethics as a Vehicle for Media Quality"
Primary Reading: John Rawls, The Law of Peoples
Primary Reading: Jan Narveson, "Morality and Violence: War, Revolution, Terrorism"
Primary Reading: David Rodin, "Terrorism Without Intention"
Primary Reading: Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and Roger Lewin, Kanzi: The Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind
Primary Reading: Stephen Nathanson, An Eye for an Eye? The Morality of Punishing by Death
Primary Reading: John Douglas and Mark Olshaker, Journey into Darkness
Primary Reading: Tom Sorell, "Two Ideals and the Death Penalty"
Primary Reading: Mark Fuhrman, Death and Justice: An Expose of Oklahoma's Death Row Machine
Narrative: 15 Minutes
Narrative: "The Jigsaw Man"
Narrative: The Life of David Gale
Bibliography
Glossary
Index
