We experience unprecedented freedom of moral and consumer choice alongside intrusive regulation of our day-to-day activities. Our major constraints are peculiarly modern—economic expectations, not knowing what to do, or a profound awareness of the impact of our personal and national decisions on others. Understanding Ethics introduces the frameworks of moral philosophy to analyse contemporary moral issues and perennial human dilemmas.

While the early chapters, which provide the theory, remain substantially the same, the rest of the book has been expanded from ten chapters to fourteen. Reflecting serious issues of our times, a new chapter on War, Terrorism and Violence has been provided. In addition, Noel Preston has undertaken a complete revision, updating his work to reflect developments in:

• Key bioethical issues
  • stell cem research, cloning, and genetic patents
  • genetically modified cropping
  • biodiversity
  • impact on developing countries
• Key themes in education and the workplace
  • ethics for teachers and schools
  • ethics of disciplinary processes
• Global themes
  • ethics of population and poverty
  • global governance and global citizenship
• War, terrorism, and violence
  • capital punishment
  • war, including "just war theory"
  • terrorism and torture)
• Environmental themes
  • Earth Charter and eco justice
  • animal rights
  • ethics, global warming, and energy policy
• Sexuality
  • same sex marriage
  • human rights

Summary Table of Contents

PART A: WHAT IS ETHICS?
CHAPTER 1: The Ethical Challenge
CHAPTER 2: Encountering Ethics
CHAPTER 3: Ethical Theory: An Overview
CHAPTER 4: Responsible Ethical Decisions

PART B: WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?
CHAPTER 5: Truthtelling and Honesty
CHAPTER 6: Sex, Love and Morality
CHAPTER 7: Life and Death: Bioethical issues
CHAPTER 8: War, Terrorism and Violence
CHAPTER 9: Public Responsibility and Political Ethics
CHAPTER 10: Ethics in Business and the Professions
CHAPTER 11: Environmental Ethics
CHAPTER 12: A Global Ethic for a Global Society

PART C: HOW TO CULTIVATE AN ETHICAL LIFE
CHAPTER 13: Values education
CHAPTER 14: Sustaining the Good Life
Index

Review of previous edition:

"Though not a legal text, the many issues and themes that arise for consideration in this book lie at the heart of contemporary legal analysis: issues such as individual liberty, protection from harm, the promulgation of a just society; issues of social justice as determined by the "common good" and "public interest"; general principles of justice and fairness; the protection of human rights; exploration of matters of integrity, truthfulness and honesty; appropriate boundary setting for state intervention in a liberal democratic society; the recognition and management of conflicts of interest; and broader perspectives on acting in ways that are consistent with the duties entrusted to persons in professional roles....

Understanding Ethics... would serve well as an introductory text or as a reader for either tertiary or secondary teachers who come to the study of ethics from outside the discipline. It would also find an appreciative audience simply with anyone who is interested in these broader philosophical or contemporary moral questions.

The text is easy to read, well written and thoughtfully organised....

Understanding Ethics... should be recommended reading for all legal graduates-in-training...."

-- Sally Kift, QUT Law and Justice Journal, Vol 1(2), 2001