It is not only in our dark hours that scepticism, relativism, hypocrisy, and nih
ilism dog ethics. Whether it is a matter of giving to charity, or sticking to du
ty, or insisting on our rights, we can be confused, or be paralysed by the fear
that our principles are groundless. Many are afraid that in a Godless world scie
nce has unmasked us as creatures fated by our genes to be selfish and tribalisti
c, or competitive and aggressive.
Simon Blackburn, author of the best-selling
Think, structures this short introduction around these and other threats to eth
ics. Confronting seven different objections to our self-image as moral, well-beh
aved creatures, he charts a course through the philosophical quicksands that oft
en engulf us. Then, turning to problems of life and death, he shows how we shoul
d think about the meaning of life, and how we should mistrust the sound-bite siz
ed absolutes that often dominate moral debates.
