ABSTRACT

Arguments about ethics often centre on traditional questions of, for instance, euthanasia and abortion. Whilst these questions are still in the foreground, recent years have seen an explosion of new moral problems. Moral and political clashes are now as likely to be about sexuality and gender and the status of refugees, immigrants and borders, or the ethics of social media, safe spaces, disability and robo-ethics.

How should we approach these debates? What are the issues at stake? What are the most persuasive arguments? Edited by best-selling philosophy author David Edmonds, Ethics and the Contemporary World assembles a star-studded line-up of philosophers to explore twenty-five of the most important ethical problems confronting us today. They engage with moral problems in race and gender, the environment, war and international relations, global poverty, ethics and social media, democracy, rights and moral status, and science and technology.

Whether you want to learn more about the ethics of poverty, food, extremism, or artificial intelligence and enhancement, this book will help you understand the issues, sharpen your perspective and, hopefully, make up your own mind.

part One|25 pages

Race and gender

chapter One|12 pages

Profiling and discrimination

part Two|28 pages

The environment

chapter Three|13 pages

Climate engineering

chapter Four|12 pages

Population and life extension

part Three|37 pages

War and international relations

chapter Five|11 pages

Immigration and borders

Who should be allowed in?

chapter Six|13 pages

War and legitimate targets

chapter Seven|9 pages

Counter-terrorism and lethal force

part Four|40 pages

Global poverty

chapter Eight|12 pages

Humanitarian intervention

chapter Nine|13 pages

Religion and politics

chapter Ten|12 pages

Charity and partiality

part Five|39 pages

Ethics and social media

chapter Eleven|14 pages

Social media and friendship

chapter Twelve|11 pages

The internet and privacy

chapter Thirteen|11 pages

Fake news and free speech

part Six|42 pages

Democracy

chapter Fourteen|13 pages

Extremism

Operation Rescue, the Army of God, and the Nashville Declaration of Conscience

chapter Fifteen|14 pages

Microaggression

chapter Sixteen|12 pages

Free speech

part Seven|86 pages

Rights and moral status

chapter Seventeen|19 pages

The child’s right to bodily integrity

chapter Eighteen|12 pages

Disability

chapter Nineteen|16 pages

Embryo research

chapter Twenty|12 pages

Abortion

chapter Twenty One|14 pages

Euthanasia

chapter Twenty Two|10 pages

Eating meat

part Eight|52 pages

Science and technology

chapter Twenty Three|15 pages

Genetic selection

chapter Twenty Four|16 pages

Human enhancement

chapter Twenty Five|18 pages

AI and robot ethics