Buch, Englisch, 240 Seiten, Format (B × H): 140 mm x 215 mm, Gewicht: 435 g
Buch, Englisch, 240 Seiten, Format (B × H): 140 mm x 215 mm, Gewicht: 435 g
ISBN: 978-0-631-15333-7
Verlag: Wiley-Blackwell
Most discussions of medical and practical ethics have avoided direct confrontation with the query: what is the value and meaning of human life? The book addresses these issues directly, examining the variety of philosophical questions in the area, their meaningfulness and the paradoxes suggested by answers to those questions. Each chapter is an attempt to identify and correct the biases and confusions in such discussions. Specific areas considered are: relations to animals; the status of the human species; utilitarian and non-utilitarian arguments; religious answers to the question "why is life sacred and worthwhile?"; the meaning of death; the influence of science.
Autoren/Hrsg.
Weitere Infos & Material
Acknowledgements viii
Introduction ix
CHAPTER ONE Suffering 1
1. We feel pain, not painlessness' 2
2. The pendulum between pain and boredom' 5
3. Are some lives worse than others? 8
4. The value of suffering 11
5. Conclusion 12
CHAPTER Two Purpose 15
1 The question 'Why?: means and ends 16
2 "The end had ceased to charm' 19
3 The Ozymandias perspective 21
4 The endless cycle of generation 24
5 To travel and to arrive 26
6 Is life absurd? 29
7 Nature's remedy 32
8 The life of purpose and its alternatives 34
CHAPTER THREE God 42
1 Insignificant man 42
2 God's purpose and the problem of evil 47
3 The life hereafter 52
4 Meaning and the religious calendar 54
CHAPTER FOUR Death 57
1 Is death the end? 58
2 The consolation of nature 62
3 When death is present 66
4 Death and other forms of non-existence 67
5 Death and the goodness of life 72
6 Death and the desire for life 78
7 Conclusion: the meaning of death 82
CHAPTER FIVE The value of life 86
1 The 'sanctity' of life 86
2 The value of human and other existence 94
CHAPTER SIX Self-realization 105
CHAPTER SEVEN Nature 109
1 The Garden of Eden 109
2 Artificial men and factitious passions' 111
3 Before and after language 115
4 'Must societies be abolished?' 120
5 The value of nature 121
CHAPTER EIGHT Homo sapiens 127
1 The 'political animal' 127
2 The rational life 130
CHAPTER NINE Happiness and desire 165
1. Desire and satisfaction 165
2. Actual and potential desires 168
3 Desire and the 'Greatest Happiness Principle' 173
4 Happiness and truth 177
5 Happiness and duty 180
CHAPTER TEN Who am I? 189
1 The individual and society 189
2 'Man makes himself 193
3 Freedom and reason 197
4 Being true to oneself 203
5 The limits of reason 205
6 Homo Ludens 208
Index 218
