Phi 104 The Good Life: Options In Ethics

“The Good Life: Options in Ethics”
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“The Good Life: Options in Ethics”
Introduction
The primer in ethics, “The Good Life: Options in Ethics” by Burton F. Porter looks at the main aims in living as suggested through philosophic history. the author surveys the association between science and ethics, psychology, and religion as well as the challenges of determinism and relativism. Through the models of self-realization evolutionism, hedonism, naturalism, religious systems, the ethical duty, existentialism, virtue ethics, the book presents the foundation of ethic thoughts to the reader. It explains how various issues happen and the way they should be handled utilizing various approaches as indicated.
The book is intended for use in the introduction of morals and ethics course and it is designed to engage practical-minded students in more fundamental questions. It ranges from principles in living (the good) to modern moral issues (the right), analyzing and exploring both sectors to stimulate deeper reflection. Therefore, it offers a good chance to student to learn how they have to behave and respond in the expected way both in school and in the society (Porter, 2017). The first section of this book clears away hindrances to pursuing ethics: egoism, relativism, and determinism. Then conventional definitions and descriptions of the good life are explained, and theories such as self-realization, hedonism, religious ethics, duty, virtue ethics, and evolutionism are explained in details. Moreover, the concluding section discourses current’s social issues including euthanasia, capital punishment, animal welfare as well as sexual morality. Moreover, provocative question that are raised in the book are significant in leading the students to behave as expected, which shapes their lives (Porter, 2017). For example, some of the question relate to the idea of mutual consent and its legitimization of conducts or actions that people should not consent to and this makes life better because ethics are observed. The issues described in the book leaves the audience asking themselves question regarding the ways they have to follow to enjoy life in a positive way. Moreover, the book offers several methods that can be used to assess the reliability of an ethical theory.
It starts by discussing some approaches by which one can evaluate the credibility of an ethical act or theory as well as the way some major ethical ideas such as ‘right’ and ‘good’ ought to be understood. Besides, the book gives options to consider concerning ethics and these are relativism and determinism and as well argues against them. The text analyzes various ethical theories and ideas including naturalism, hedonism, religious ethics, existentialism, duty, evolutionism and self-realization. These concepts are explained to make an individual approach the concepts of getting a good life by observing ethical and moral issues in the society.
In his book, Burton Porter explains the importance of considering the deontological ethis as we as utilitarianism (Porter, 2017). He explains that the morality of any action ought to be...