xv, 937 pages ; 21 cm "The Moral Life: An Introductory Reader in Ethics and Literature brings together an extensive and varied collection of 87 classical and contemporary readings on ethical theory and practice. Integrating literature with philosophy in an innovative way, editor Louis Pojman uses literary works to enliven and make concrete the ethical theory or applied issues addressed in each chapter. Literary works by Hugo, Hawthorne, Melville, Tolstoy, Ibsen, Huxley, Orwell, Camus, LeGuin, Styron, and many others lead students into philosophical concepts and issues such as relativism, utilitarianism, virtue ethics, the meaning of life, freedom, sex, love and marriage, and environmental ethics. Once introduced, these topics are developed further through readings by philosophers including Aristotle, Sartre, Bernard Williams, Jane English, and Thomas E. Hill, Jr. This unique anthology emphasizes the personal dimension of ethics, which is often ignored or minimized in ethics texts." "Featuring insightful part and chapter introductions as well as biographical sketches, abstracts, and study questions for each reading selection, The Moral Life is ideal for introductory ethics courses. It also provides an engaging gateway into personal and social ethics for the general reader."--Jacket Includes bibliographical references What Is the Purpose of Morality? -- William Golding / Lord of the Flies: A Moral Allegory -- Louis P. Pojman / On the Nature and Purpose of Morality:Reflections on WilliamGolding's Lord of the Flies -- Thomas Hobbes / On the State of Nature -- Herman Melville / Billy Budd -- Fyodor Dostoevski / Why Is There Evil? -- William Styron / Sophie's Choice -- Philip Hallie / From Cruelty to Goodness -- Stanley Benn / Wickedness -- Friedrich Nietzsche / Beyond Good and Evil -- Richard Taylor / On the Origin of Good and Evil -- Herodotus / Custom Is King -- Ruth Benedict / The Case for Moral Relativism -- Louis P. Pojman / The Case Against Moral Relativism -- Jean Bethke Elshtain / Judge Not? -- Henrick Ibsen / The Enemy of the People -- Seaman Holmes and the Longboat of theWilliam Brown, Reported by John William Wallace -- Jeremy Bentham / Classical Utilitarianism -- Kai Nielsen / A Defense of Utilitarianisn -- Bernard Williams / Against Utilitarianism -- Ursula Le Guin / The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas -- Aldous Huxley / The Utilitarian Social Engineer and the Savage -- Soren Kierkegaard / On Duty -- Immanuel Kant / The Moral Law -- W.D. Ross / Intuitionism -- The Golden Rule -- Richard Whatley / A Critique of the Golden Rule -- Ambrose Bierce / A Horseman in the Sky -- Charles Fried / The Evil of Lying -- Thomas Nagel / Moral luck -- Victor Hugo / The Bishop and the Candlesticks -- Aristotle / Virtue Ethics -- Bernard Mayo / Virtue and the Moral Life -- Nathaniel Hawthorne / The Great Stone Face -- William Frankena / A Critique of Virtue-Based Ethical Systems -- Jonathan Bennett / The Conscience of Huckleberry -- Jesus of Nazareth / The Sermon on the Mount; The Good Samaritan -- Leo Tolstoy / How Much Land Does a Man Need? The Vice of Greed -- Immanuel Kant / jealousy, Malice, and Ingratitude -- Martin Gansberg / Moral Cowardice -- Helen Keller: Three Days to See: Gratitude -- Vice Admiral James Stockdale / Courage and Endurance (cont'd) The Story of David and Bathsheba: Lust -- Leo Tolstoy / Where Love Is, There Is God -- Bertrand Russell / Reflections on Suffering -- Charles Colson / The Volunteer at Auschwitz -- Plato / The Ring of Gyges -- James Rachels / Ethical Egoism -- Louis P. Pojman / Egoism, Self-Interest, and altruism -- Epicurus / Hedonism -- Epictetus and Others / Stoic Catechism -- Albert Camus / Life Is Absurd -- Lois Hope Walker / Religion Gives Meaning to Life -- Viktor Frankl/The Human Search for Meaning:Reflections on Auschwitz -- Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha / The Four Noble Truths -- Robert Nozick / The Experience machine -- Martin Luther King, Jr. / I Have a Dream -- Stanley Milgram / An Experiment in Autonomy -- Jean-Paul Sartre / Existentialism Is a Humanism -- Thomas E. Hill, Jr. / Servility and Self -- Sex, Love, and Marriage John Barth / pansexuality -- Immanuel Kant / On the Place of Sex in Human Existence -- The Vatican Declaration on Sexual Ethics -- Raymond Angelo Belliotti / Sexual Intercourse Between Consenting Adults Is Always Permissible -- Vincent Punza / Sexual Intercourse Should Be Confined to Marriage -- Burton Leiser / Is Homosexuality Unnatural? -- John McMurtry / Monogamy: A Critique -- Michael D. Bayles / Marriage, Love, and Procreation: A Critique of McMurtry -- Bonnie Steinbock / What's Wrong with Adultery? -- Hugh LaFollette / Licensing Parents -- John T. Noonan, Jr. / Abortion Is Not Morally Permissible -- Mary Anne Warren / Abortion Is Morally Permissible -- Jane English / The Moderate Position: Beyond the Personhood Argument -- Substance Abuse: Drugs and Alcohol -- John Stuart Mill / On Liberty -- Gore Vidal/Drugs Should Be Legalized -- William Bennett / Drugs Should Not Be Legalized -- Yoshida Kenko / On Drinking -- Bonnie Steinbock / Drunk Driving -- George Orwell / Shooting an Elephant -- Immanuel Kant / We Have Only Indirect Duties to Animals -- Peter Singer / Animal Liberation: All Animals Are Equal (cont'd) Carl Cohen / Tbe Case Against Animal Rights -- Mylan Engel, Jr. / The Immorality of Eating meat -- Our Duties to the Environment -- Sophocles / On Mankind's Power over Nature -- Robert Heilbroner / What Has Posterity Ever Done for Me? -- Garrett Hardin / Tbe Tragedy of the Commons -- David Watson / We All Live in Bhopal -- William F. Baxter / People or Penguins: The Case for Optimal Pollution