Ethical issues in contemporary society

In this volume of Leys Lectures, third collection of Wayne Leys Memorial Lectures, six distinguished essayists demonstrate relevance of ethics to contemporary concerns by constructively exploring major ethical issues deeply embedded our society.The essays, written by noted scholars Tom Regan, Carol C. Gould, James Rachels, James P. Sterba, Louis P. Pojman, and David L. Norton, focus on issues of feminism, exploitation of animals, economic injustice, racial prejudice, naive moral relativism, and failure of public education.Tom Regan and Louis P. Pojman both address issue of animal rights. Regan directs his attention to an ethic-of-care feminism, which contends that ideology of male superioritynot only to women but to all creaturesmust be destroyed. By means of a consistency argument, he extends ethic-of-care feminism to treatment of animals, insisting that we must not permit to be done to animals in name of science what we would not allow to be done to human beings. Pojman, on other hand, addresses question of animal through a critical analysis of seven theories of moral status of animals, arguing that while animals have no natural rights since they are unable to enter into contracts, they do deserve to be treated kindly. In his view, much animal research could be abandoned without significant loss.What rethinking of democracy terms of and equality is required by economic justice? Carol C. Gould offers an answer to this question by arguing that economic justice requires that workers control production process as well as distribution process. Such justice would provide basis of positive freedom as self-development without ignoring importance of absence of constraints.Taking racial prejudice as his paradigm, James Rachels explores deeper meaning of prejudice and what equality of treatment involves. Noting subtlety of prejudicial reasoning, he examines how stereotypes, unconscious bias, and human tendency toward rationalization make it difficult even for people of good will to prevent prejudice from influencing their actions.James P. Sterba invites reader to consider a different and more general problem of how to persuade people to act for moral reasons. To accomplish this aim he shows morality to be a requirement of rationality and the welfare liberal ideal (the right to welfare and right to equal opportunity) to be a fusion of practical ends of five idealsliberty, fairness, common good, androgyny, and equality.For David L. Norton, one of our most pressing problems is failure of our educational system. The system fails to enable students to make wise life-shaping choices involving vocation, marriage, children, and friendship. In order to make good choices, human beings must live and work an environment that provides experiences that authenticate indispensable to worthy living. These personal truths include direct acquaintance with vocational alternatives and participation actual service to others.Collectively, these essays bring into sharp focus urgent moral issues confronting our society and need for ongoing discussion and examination of these issues order to gain deeper understanding of and possible solutions to problems they present

Animal ethics · Animal rights · Democracy · Economic Justice · Environmental ethics · Feminism · Ideology · Injustice · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Law · Philosophy · Religion, Ecology, and Ethics