This book by Simon Blackburn (author of Think) is, as was his other book, a general introduction to some key philosophical issues and themes; it's also one that I had already read before I started this blog but I'm re-reading it now to see whether it's worth giving to my youngest brother who has just started studying philosophy for his A-levels.
Anyway - Blackburn, in three large chunks, covers:
- Threats to ethics
- The death of God
- Egoism
- Evolutionary theory
- Determinism & futility
- Unreasonable demands
- False consciousness
- Some ethical ideas
- Birth
- Death
- Desire & the meaning of life
- Pleasure
- The greatest happiness of the greatest number
- Freedom from the bad
- Freedom & paternalism
- Rights & natural rights
- Foundations of ethics
- Reasons & foundations
- Being good & living well
- The categorical imperative
- Contracts & discourse
- The common point of view
- Confidence restored
And that's the book.
Though I have a lot of nits to pick with Blackburn in the minutiae, every philosopher has to come to their own conclusions, and he does to be fair present the things he discusses with a certain detachedness that enables the reader to continue their own explorations without being too bogged down in their introductory text. A good book to kick off a habit of thinking about ethics with.
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