First published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

'Billington is a fine writer; everything flows so nicely, somehow. The changes are excellent... and really bring it up to speed.' - Brooke Moore, California State University 'This is philosophy that doesn't hide; it demostrates powerfully how the philosophical stance can illuminate things that matter to many people. Direct, argumentative, informative.' - John Shand, The Open University, UK 'Ray Billington's style is lucid, witty and full of human warmth. The issues are presented with the maturity and erudition of a true mentor willing to offer himself as an example... In style and substance Billington's text grounds philosophy in and guides students towards the view that the examined life is worth living.' - Bruce Omundson, Lansing Community College, USA 'Billington takes moral theory beyond the undergraduate staple diet of Kant and he utilitarians, and expands the students' horizons to embrace existentialism and Eastern philosophy There is a very important place for the kind of introduction which Billington has written.' - Teaching Philosophy -

Prefaces Section 1. General theory of ethics 1. What is philosophy? 2. The scope of ethics 3. Facts and Values 4. Our knowledge of right and wrong Section 2. Approaches to ethical theory 5. Ends and means I: Kant 6. Ends and means II: Mill and Utilitarianism 7. Existentialism 8. Free will and determinism Section 3. Issues in moral and practical philosophy 9. Morality and religion 10. Eastern religions and cultural relativism 11. Ethics and politics 12. Environmental ethics and bioethics 13. Ethics and education Section 4. The moral agent 14. Moral maturity 15. Phi beta kappa: the philosophy of experience Appendices Glossary of terms Notes Further reading Indexes