This original and comprehensive volume explores the history of philosophical ethics in the western tradition from Homer until the present day. Leading experts in the field use their expertise and specialist knowledge to illuminate key subjects and ideas in contemporary ethics, and survey the history of the discipline.

Preface ; List of Contributors ; 1. Homeric Ethics ; 2. Plato's Ethics ; 3. Aristotle's Ethics ; 4. Epicurus: Freedom, Death, and Hedonism ; 5. Cynicism and Stoicism ; 6. Ancient Scepticism ; 7. Platonic Ethics in Later Antiquity ; 8. Thomism ; 9. The Franciscans ; 10. Later Christian Ethics ; 11. Nature, Law, and Natural Law ; 12. Seventeenth Century Moral Philosophy: Self-Help, Self-Knowledge, and the Devil's Mountain ; 13. Rousseau and Ethics ; 14. Utilitarianism: Bentham and Rashdall ; 15. Rationalism ; 16. Rational Intuitionism ; 17. Moral Sense and Sentimentalism ; 18. Butler's Ethics ; 19. Hume's Place in the History of Ethics ; 20. Adam Smith ; 21. Kant's Moral Philosophy ; 22. Kantian Ethics ; 23. Post-Kantianism ; 24. Hegel and Marx ; 25. J. S. Mill ; 26. Sidgwick ; 27. British Idealist Ethics ; 28. Ethics in the Analytic Tradition ; 29. Free Will ; 30. Emotion and the Emotions ; 31. Happiness, Suffering, and Death ; 32. Autonomy ; 33. Egoism, Partiality, and Impartiality ; 34. Conscience, Guilt, and Shame ; 35. Moral Psychology and Virtue ; 36. Justice, Equality, and Rights ; 37. Styles of Moral Relativism: A Critical Family Tree ; 38. Moral Metaphysics ; 39. Constructing Practical Ethics ; Index

Each chapter is written with appropriate rigor for an academic audience and serves as a strong introduction to the topic it covers. Overall, these chapters should be accessible to general readers as well ... Essential. All academic and public libraries.

The first academic reference work on this subject Surveys the history of ethics from the ancient world to today Introduces research and developments in the field from the last thirty years Brand-new work on individual schools, thinkers, and periods An essential resource for anyone working in moral philosophy and history of ideas

Roger Crisp is Uehiro Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at St Anne's College, Oxford, and Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Oxford. He was trained in classics and philosophy at the University of Oxford, where he has spent all of his academic career except for the academic year 2010-11, when he was Findlay Visiting Professor at Boston University. He is an associate editor of Ethics, and a member of the Analysis Committee. He is currently working on a book on Henry Sidgwick's Methods of Ethics.

The first academic reference work on this subject Surveys the history of ethics from the ancient world to today Introduces research and developments in the field from the last thirty years Brand-new work on individual schools, thinkers, and periods An essential resource for anyone working in moral philosophy and history of ideas