The Ethics of the Family

Edited By: Linda Oravecz, Adam Potthast, Stephen Scales

£49.99

What are our ethical commitments to our family and the broader community? These essays provide ethical analyses of issues from same-sex marriage to licensing parents, covering love, sex, marriage, and the influence of technology on family life.

Our families are our first and most important ethical training grounds. But what is the family? And what are our ethical commitments to our family…

Our families are our first and most important ethical training grounds. But what is the family? And what are our ethical commitments to our family members and to the broader moral community? After a brief introductory chapter on basic ethical concepts and theories, the essays in this volume provide readers with ethical analyses of issues ranging from same-sex marriage to a controversial proposal to “license” parents. The chapters cover love, sex, marriage, parents and children, the relationship between the family and the larger moral community, and the influence of emerging technologies on the ethical issues inherent in family life. The volume is intended to open up this exciting territory in applied ethics to those interested in philosophy, family studies, social work, and to anyone who wants a deeper understanding of the ethical forces at work in this most basic social institution.

Stephen Scales is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Towson University in Towson, Maryland. Dr Scales received his BA in Liberal Arts from The New School for Social Research in 1986, and earned his PhD in philosophy from The University of California, San Diego in 1995. Dr Scales currently sits on the Executive Committee of the Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum. He has published on family ethics and ethics pedagogy.

Linda Oravecz is Assistant Professor in Family Studies and Community Development at Towson University. Her research interests include family and community violence, ethnic families and family policy.

Adam Potthast is Assistant Professor of Professional Ethics at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Missouri, where he teaches courses in ethics, political philosophy, and the meaning of life. He also co-wrote Ethics for Dummies (forthcoming June 2010) with Christopher Panza of Drury University.

Dr. Jeff Buechner, Kristie Bunton, Suk Choi, James J. Jr., Hallie Liberto, Ernani Magalhaes, Michael McFall, Elizabeth Meade, Robert Muhlnickel, Paul Newhouse, Kathryn Norlock, Laura Osinski, Yvette Pearson, Karen Rice, Wade L. Robison, Sangeeta Sangha, Eric Silverman, Mark Strasser, Michael Taber, Steven Weimer, Steven Weiss, Diane Williamson, Charles Zola, Adam Potthast, Linda Oravecz