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This book is a full-scale account of the morally important ideas of treating persons merely as means and treating them as ends. Audi clarifies these independently of Kant, but with implications for understanding him, and presents a theory of conduct that enhances their usefulness both in ethical theory and in practical ethics.
List of contents
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part One
- The Ethics of Protecting Persons
- Chapter 1
- The Instrumental Treatment of Persons
- Means and Ends
- Instrumental Versus End-Regarding Treatment
- Treating Solely as a Means versus Merely as a Means
- Chapter 2
- Instrumental Treatment as Human Conduct
- The Motivation and Controllability of Merely Instrumental Conduct
- Constraints, Moral Character, and Self-Control
- Motivation, Constraints, and the Appraisal of Character
- Chapter 3
- Action, Treatment and Conduct
- Action, Endeavor, and Consequence
- Two Levels of Behavioral Description
- Conduct as a Morally Important Category
- Manners of Action Versus Actions as Defined by Manner
- Chapter 4
- The Wrong-Making Character of Merely Instrumental Treatment
- Thick and Thin Moral Questions
- Substantive and Contrastive Views of Merely Instrumental Treatment
- Persons as Ends Versus Good Ends for Persons
- Internal and External Goods for Persons
- Part Two
- The Ethics of Respecting Persons
- Chapter 5
- Treating Others as Ends in Themselves
- Caring about the Good of Others
- Two Kinds of Normativity
- Descriptive Grounds of End-regarding Treatment
- Chapter 6
- End-Regarding Treatment and Respect for Persons
- Good Deeds, Good Reasons, and Good Conduct
- End-Regarding Treatment, Intention, and Interpersonal Behavior
- The Particularity of Persons and the Interchangeability of Means
- Chapter 7
- Autonomy and the Moral Significance of Our Self-Conceptions
- Psychological Dispositions and the Basis of Consent
- Respect for Persons, Point of View, and Informed Rational Desire
- End-Regarding Treatment and Respecting Moral Rights
- Conduct Toward Persons versus Behavior Affecting Them
- Chapter 8
- Conduct, Intention, and Will
- Motivational Self-Control and the Scope of Intentions
- The Manner of Interpersonal Conduct
- Moral Requirements and the Content of Intention
- Conduct Requirements and the Love Commandments
- Conclusion
- Index
About the author
Robert Audi is an internationally known contributor to ethics. He has published books and numerous papers in the field, and he lectures widely in ethics, moral psychology, philosophy of action, and related areas.
Summary
This book is a full-scale account of the morally important ideas of treating persons merely as means and treating them as ends. Audi clarifies these independently of Kant, but with implications for understanding him, and presents a theory of conduct that enhances their usefulness both in ethical theory and in practical ethics.
Additional text
There are many things to appreciate about this book. The chapters are rich with detailed examples which provide a valuable resource for teaching and for further study. Also, Audi has again demonstrated his mastery of the difficult feat of writing a serious philosophical text that has significant depth, while at the same time giving us a text that is jargon-free enough to be of use to the non-specialist. Furthermore, despite the theoretical focus of the book, practical concerns are never far from view. In fact, the final chapter focuses on the extent to which we have control over our treatment of one another and ends with a discussion that reveals his deep concern for acting morally toward one another. It's a lovely way to end a book about what it means to treat people as ends in themselves.
