This is a significantly expanded second edition of an undergraduate level introductory textbook on applied ethics. The textbook aims to teach the importance of ethics to society; help students understand core concepts of ethical thinking; introduce the scientific, legal, and other background material pertinent to contemporary moral problems; and aid students in applying critical reasoning in order to ethically evaluate those problems. It first introduces the basic conceptual and theoretical issues of ethical philosophy and then offers chapters on the ethical issues of abortion, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, capital punishment, pornography and censorship, equality and affirmative action, environmental ethics, animal rights, warfare, terrorism and torture, sexual morality and marriage, and global economic justice, with these latter two topics being new to this edition. Each chapter (including the introductory conceptual and theoretical material) includes readings by historic and contemporary philosophers (and others), including Plato, Ruth Benedict, Immanuel Kant, Robert Nozick, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Michael Walzer, to name just a few. A handful of new readings have been added to each of the moral issues chapters for a total of 24 new readings. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Read Less