Omschrijving
In The Moral of the Story, Peter and Renata Singer draw on some of the best works of fiction, playwriting, and poetry in order to shed light on the perennial questions of ethics. Aims to shed light on the perennial questions of ethics. This work demonstrates how literary sources can add richness to discussions of real-life moral questions and dilemmas. It brings together selections and excerpts from some of the world's most celebrated short stories, novels, plays, and poetry. Preface
ix
Part One Personal Moral Issues
1(208)
I WHO AM I?
3(48)
Introduction
3(48)
1 Ralph Ellison, from Invisible Man
7(11)
2 Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey, from Puberty Blues
18(5)
3 James Baldwin, from Giovanni's Room
23(3)
4 Tom Wolfe, from The Bonfire of the Vanities
26(8)
5 George Eliot, from Middlemarch
34(4)
6 Arthur Miller, from The Crucible
38(9)
7 William Shakespeare, from Macbeth
47(4)
II DUTIES TO KIN
51(60)
Introduction
51(4)
i The Duties of Parents to Their Children
55(26)
8 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Unnatural Mother"
57(6)
9 Charles Dickens, from Bleak House
63(6)
10 Joseph Kanon, from The Good German
69(12)
ii The Duties of Sisters and Brothers
81(8)
11 Sophocles, from Antigone
83(3)
12 William Shakespeare, from Measure for Measure
86(3)
iii The Duties of Children to Their Parents
89(22)
13 Zitkala-?a, "The Soft-Hearted Sioux"
91(6)
14 Ambrose Bierce, "A Horseman in the Sky"
97(5)
15 Alice Munro, from "The Peace of Utrecht"
102(9)
III LOVE, MARRIAGE, AND SEX
111(60)
Introduction
111(5)
16 Jane Austen, from Pride and Prejudice
116(6)
17 William Shakespeare, from Romeo and Juliet
122(5)
18 Vikram Seth, from A Suitable Boy
127(13)
19 Guy de Maupassant, "The Model"
140(5)
20 George Eliot, from Middlemarch
145(6)
21 Leo Tolstoy, from Anna Karenina
151(4)
22 George Bernard Shaw, from Mrs Warren's Profession
155(5)
23 John Cleland, from Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure
160(3)
24 Daniel Defoe, from Moll Flanders
163(8)
IV ABORTION, EUTHANASIA, AND SUICIDE
171(38)
Introduction
171(4)
25 Maeve Binchy, from "Shepherd's Bush"
175(7)
26 Brian Clark, from Whose Life is it Anyway?
182(10)
27 Kate Jennings, from Moral Hazard
192(7)
28 William Shakespeare, from Hamlet
199(2)
29 Arna Bontemps, "A Summer Tragedy"
201(8)
Part Two The Community and Beyond
209(250)
V WORK
211(36)
Introduction
211(4)
30 Elizabeth Gaskell, from North and South
215(7)
31 Edwin Seaver, from The Company
222(3)
32 Ruth L. Ozeki, from My Year of Meats
225(8)
33 Henrik Ibsen, from An Enemy of the People
233(8)
34 C.P. Snow, from The Search
241(6)
VI WHAT DO WE OWE TO OUR COUNTRY, COMPATRIOTS, AND STRANGERS?
247(44)
Introduction
247(4)
35 Euripides, from Iphigeneia at Aulis
251(7)
36 Geraldine Brooks, from Year of Wonders
258(10)
37 Ian McEwan, from Enduring Love
268(8)
38 Nick Hornby, from How to be Good
276(11)
39 Joyce Carol Oates, "The Undesirable Table"
287(4)
VII ETHICS AND POLITICS
291(32)
Introduction
291(3)
40 Anthony Trollope, from Can You Forgive Her?
294(10)
41 Anonymous (Joe Klein), from Primary Colors
304(12)
42 Anthony Trollope, from Phineas Finn
316(7)
VIII RACISM AND SEXISM
323(38)
Introduction
323(5)
43 Harriet Beecher Stowe, from Uncle Tom's Cabin
328(8)
44 Lerone Bennett, Jr, "The Convert"
336(11)
45 William Shakespeare, from The Taming of the Shrew
347(5)
46 Henrik Ibsen, from A Doll's House
352(9)
IX WAR
361(40)
Introduction
361(3)
47 Leo Tolstoy, from War and Peace
364(5)
48 Pat Barker, from Regeneration
369(10)
49 Wilfred Owen, "S.I.W."
379(2)
50 William Shakespeare, from King Henry V (Act III, Scene III)
381(2)
51 William Shakespeare, from King Henry V (Act IV, Scene I)
383(3)
52 Alfred Tennyson, "The Charge of the Light Brigade"
386(3)
53 S. Yizhar, from "The Prisoner"
389(6)
54 John Fowles, from The Magus
395(6)
X ANIMALS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
401(26)
Introduction
401(4)
55 Desmond Stewart, "The Limits of Trooghaft"
405(7)
56 Richard Adams, from The Plague Dogs
412(6)
57 Douglas Adams, from The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
418(2)
58 James Fenimore Cooper, from The Pioneers
420(7)
XI DUTIES TO GOD
427(12)
Introduction
427(3)
59 Aeschylus, from Prometheus Bound
430(4)
60 Genesis 22
434(2)
61 Fyodor Dostoyevsky, from The Brothers Karamazov
436(3)
XII NEW LIFE FORMS
439(20)
Introduction
439(3)
62 Mary Shelley, from Frankenstein
442(8)
63 Karel Capek, from The Makropulos Secret
450(9)
Part Three Reflecting on Ethics
459(144)
XIII THE NATURE OF ETHICS
461(32)
Introduction
461(4)
64 E. Pauline Johnson, "The Sea-Serpent"
465(4)
65 Daniel Defoe, from Robinson Crusoe
469(3)
66 Mark Twain, from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
472(4)
67 Graham Greene, from The Third Man
476(4)
68 Tadeusz Borowski, "This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen"
480(13)
XIV RULES, RIGHTS, DUTIES, AND THE GREATER GOOD
493(54)
Introduction
493(4)
69 Ursula K. Le Guin, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"
497(5)
70 Fyodor Dostoyevsky, from Crime and Punishment
502(8)
71 Kazuo Ishiguro, from The Remains of the Day
510(6)
72 Anthony Trollope, from Dr Wortle's School
516(8)
73 Harper Lee, from To Kill a Mockingbird
524(13)
74 William Shakespeare, Sonnet 138
537(1)
75 George Eliot, from Middlemarch
538(9)
XV ULTIMATE VALUES
547(18)
Introduction
547(3)
76 Daniel Defoe, from Robinson Crusoe
550(2)
77 Henry James, from The Portrait of a Lady
552(5)
78 Aldous Huxley, from Brave New World
557(5)
79 Henry James, from The Princess Casamassima
562(3)
ISSUES
565(38)
Notes on Authors
603(7)
Further Reading on Ethics
610(7)
Acknowledgments
617