Ethics in the Gray Area

Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-1-009-33679-6
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 227 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 308 g

What should morally conscientious agents do if they must choose among options that are somewhat right and somewhat wrong? Should one select an option that is right to the highest degree, or would it perhaps be more rational to choose randomly among all somewhat right options? And how should lawmakers and courts address behaviour that is neither entirely right nor entirely wrong? In this first book-length discussion of the 'gray area' in ethics, Martin Peterson challenges the assumption that rightness and wrongness are binary properties and explores acts which are neither entirely right nor entirely wrong, but rather a bit of both. Including discussions of white lies and the permissibility of abortion, Peterson's book presents a gradualist theory of right and wrong designed to answer these and other practical questions about the gray area in ethics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Peterson, Martin

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface; Introduction; 1. Meaning tracks use; 2. Conflicting reasons; 3. Conflicting sources of normativity; 4. The binary theory; 5. Moral indeterminacy and vagueness; 6. Normative ethics for gradualists; 7. Rational choice for gradualists; 8. Indeterminate and vague laws; 9. Depolarization; Conclusions; References; Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Peterson, Martin
Martin Peterson holds the Sue G. and Harry E. Bovay, Jr. Chair in the Department of Philosophy at Texas A & M University. He is the author of The Dimensions of Consequentialism (Cambridge University Press, 2013), An Introduction to Decision Theory (Cambridge University Press, 2nd ed 2017), The Ethics of Technology (2017), and Engineering Ethics (2019).