Contemporary Ethical Issues: A Personalist Perspective

by Walter G. Jeffko

Overview

An expert on the philosophy of John Macmurray evaluates current ethical concerns raised by economic inequality, the influence of money on politics, political extremism, the election of Donald Trump, and more. Now in a newly revised fourth edition,Contemporary Ethical Issuesexplores a series of compelling moral problems from a personalist perspective influenced by the Scottish philosopher John Macmurray (1891-1976). In many publications spanning fifty years, most notably his Gifford Lectures titled "The Form of the Personal," Macmurray developed a robust personalism that emphasizes the primacy of persons as rational agents. In his view, self-realization is achieved in community where justice and individual rights are respected. From the background of a liberal Roman Catholic, Walter G. Jeffko utilizes key elements of Macmurray's thought in developing his own philosophical viewpoint, and he relates Macmurray's ideas to those of a wide variety of important philosophers, ethicists, and other notable thinkers, including ecologists and war theorists. The essays in this edition address the topics of the moral treatment of civilians in war (including an extensive moral evaluation of the Iraqi War), recent Supreme Court decisions, the threat to our democracy posed by unlimited sums of money in politics, the growing inequality of wealth and income, and the rise of political extremism on the right and its threat to women's rights. New to this edition is the author's 2015 Harrod Lecture titled, "Economic Inequality, Distributive Justice, and Democracy." Jeffko brings logical precision and a lucid style to the study of ethics, blending powerful scholarship with readability.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633884427
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	06/12/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	575
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Walter G. Jeffko is professor of philosophy at Fitchburg State College, where he has received a Presidential Award and three Distinguished Service Awards for outstanding achievement. He is a recognized authority on the philosophy of John Macmurray. His publications include three previous editions of Contemporary Ethical Issues and A Personalistic Theory of Human Nature and Value.

Read an Excerpt

Preface to the Fourth Edition

I am pleased to present this fourth edition of Contemporary Ethical Issues. There are four major changes compared to the third edition. First and foremost, it has a new, additional chapter—13—which is an update, revision, and expansion of my latest (and tenth) Harrod Lecture, “Economic Inequality, Distributive Justice, and Democracy,” delivered at Fitchburg State University on October 7, 2015. My argument in this chapter is fourfold: (1) distributive justice is an essential mode of justice; (2) an adequate conception of distributive justice is necessary to fairly and substantially reduce current levels of economic inequality; (3) a fair distribution of income and wealth connected with a widespread dispersal of trained skills and educated abilities is a desideratum for a flourishing democracy; and (4) an adequate concept of distributive justice is based primarily upon a theory of human needs and secondarily upon rational merit.

The second major change is in chapter 12, “The Moral Treatment of Civilians in War.” In the third edition, I merely touched upon the morality of the still controversial Iraq War. I did not discuss it in detail, except in a long footnote. In this edition, inspired by a colleague and Roy Scranton’s book, War Porn, I moved my account of the war to the text, where I give a fuller analysis and evaluation of it. Because President George W. Bush’s justification of the Iraq War appealed to several conditions of just war theory, this edition has a whole new section explaining all the conditions of the theory, which includes examining Bush’s justification of the war and my moral argument against it. As a result, I had to expand my treatment of Michael Walzer’s revision of just war theory. In this edition, I examine his concepts of “sufficient threat” and “humanitarianism.” Also in this chapter, I updated my assessment of President Barack Obama’s drone and civilian casualty policy as part of his overall counterterrorism strategy.

The third major change is about the recent rise of nationalist populism in Europe and America, which led to Great Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union (Brexit, as it is commonly called) and the election of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States. The latter event I consider to be a serious threat to the liberal democratic order in America and throughout the free world (not to mention world peace), and a repudiation of almost every value this book stands for. As a result, there are many critical evaluations of Trump’s attitudes, policies, and proposals appropriately interspersed throughout the book, starting with a “Crisis of Values” in the opening section of Chapter 1.

The fourth change is stylistic. I have italicized the first instance of a key or technical term, especially when it is defined or otherwise identified. In several cases, I italicized the entire definition when I thought it was of pre-eminent importance. I sometimes did this in the third edition but not consistently.

In addition to these four major changes, the book has numerous updates and several significant substantive changes. I now highlight them. In chapter 1, the “Crisis of Values” section is heavily revised. I also comment on the growing anti-scientific attitude in this country. In chapter 2, a perceived error in my description of the double effect principle is corrected, and I further refine my intentionality principle. In chapter 3, I clarify the waivability range of the right to life. In chapter 4, I update some statistics on abortion and viability, and briefly discuss the issue of when a fetus begins to feel pain. I examine in some detail the important Supreme Court decision, Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016), which struck down the constitutionality of laws in Texas and several other states whose effect was to close down most abortion clinics in those states. Also, I briefly comment on a new method of in vitro fertilization, called Augment.

In chapter 5, I refine my distinctions between direct and indirect euthanasia, and between euthanasia and assisted suicide. I update the states that have legalized the latter practice. I briefly comment on the controversial Belgian law that legalized direct-voluntary euthanasia for terminally-ill children. Chapter 6 has several changes. I explain more fully why the uniformity principle prohibits racial discrimination in all phases of the criminal justice process. I refine the difference between retribution and revenge, and between prevention and deterrence. My argument against Walter Bern’s “morality of anger” is revised. Statistics on the death penalty are updated. A recent Supreme Court decision clarifying mental retardation in connection with the death penalty is briefly discussed, as is the growing difficulty of retentionist states in the US to obtain the proper mix of chemicals for executions. I also comment on the growing concern that prolonged solitary confinement is inhumane and violates the Eighth Amendment.

Chapter 7 has a new section on the Supreme Court and privacy, in which three important court cases are discussed. On the relation between spirit and person, I cite some material from a letter that John Macmurray wrote to me. There are several changes to the individualistic society section. I deleted the statistics on income and wealth inequality, and some aspects of libertarianism. These issues are now taken up in chapter 13. I also deleted material referring to the Reagan-Bush era, which now seems quaint. In the section on the organic society, I expand my treatment of Plato’s concept of knowledge, and discuss how in his later dialogues of old age, he gradually developed a positive attitude toward democracy, in contrast to his negative evaluation of it in The Republic. In chapter 8, I update my analysis of libertarianism in relation to the Libertarian Party. For the first time, I argue that the Electoral College is inherently undemocratic and should be abolished. I also question whether Rawls’s distinction between a welfare state and a property-owning democracy is sufficiently explained. But the most extensive changes in chapter 8 are to the same-sex marriage and religious liberty v. citizens’ rights sections. I update my coverage of these issues with reference to the latest Supreme Court decisions, and I expand my treatment of moral arguments against same-sex marriage. The Charlottesville, Virginia deadly white supremist rally of August 2017 is analyzed.

In chapter 9, I clarify my distinction between a more-inclusive and less-inclusive being, and the extent to which sentient animals have rights. The US government’s involvement in animal abuse is brought up, as is the emergence of commercial animal farms in China and throughout Asia, which raise many endangered species of animals for eventual slaughter. In chapter 10, I update the legal status of affirmative action by examining the Supreme Court’s most recent rulings on the issue. I clarify my moral argument against affirmative action. In its present form, the argument also has a fairly broad range in which affirmative action programs are morally acceptable. The recent Mismatch Theory is mentioned in relation to the phenomenon of cascading. In chapter 11, the section on global warming is updated and considerably expanded. The growing use of hydroflurocarbons (HFCs) as a powerful contributor to global warming is noted, as is the amount of perfectly good food that is wasted in the United States. I comment on Thomas Hill’s virtue argument on environmental protection, and refine my concept of environmental capitalism. The fairly recent divestment movement is briefly discussed. The growing trend toward hybrid and electric cars is noted. President Trump’s withdrawal of the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change and his anti-environmental views are discussed in some detail.

Once again, I thank my wife, Catherine, for her support throughout this project. I especially thank by dear friend and secretary, Catherine Hill, for meticulously typing the entire manuscript.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition     11
Preface to the First Edition     15
Person, Reason, and Value     19
A Crisis of Values     19
Person as Communicative Agent     22
Person as Rational Agent     28
Instrumental and Aesthetic Value     34
Moral Value, Intentionality, and Community     45
The Principle of Intentionality     45
The Principle of Community     61
Suicide and the Right to Die     76
Definitions of Suicide     77
Arguments against Suicide     83
Arguments for Suicide     93
Community, Justice, and Suicide     99
Abortion, Personhood, and Community     107
Ontology of the Fetus     108
Moral Implications     125
Abortion and the Law     135
The Abortion Pill and Embryonic Stem-Cell Research     140
Euthanasia: A Reinterpretation     156
Definitions of Euthanasia     157
Conventional Types of Euthanasia     159
Direct and Indirect Euthanasia     165
The Death Penalty and Purposes of Punishment     188
Punishment in General     189
The Death Penalty     201
Privacy, Private Property, and Justice     235
Personhood and Privacy     236
Privacy and Society     249
The Personalist Society, Community, and Justice     266
Historical Background: Aristotle, Aquinas, and Kant     267
Macmurray's Constructive Democracy     271
Rawls's Political Liberalism     275
Concluding Synthesis     294
The Moral Treatment of Animals     300
Western Civilization and Animals     301
Toward a Synthesis     314
Affirmative Action and Justice     324
Discrimination and Prejudice     324
Affirmative Action and the Law: A History     328
An Ethics of Affirmative Action     342
Community and the Environmental Crisis     363
The Environmental Crisis     364
Ethics and the Environment     379
A Personalist Synthesis     387
Select Bibliography     403
Index     423