Abstract

No introductory textbook can do complete justice to the subject of ethics. The best it can do is to help students develop a basic competency in ethical analysis and acquire a measure of confidence in their judgment; it should also stimulate enough interest in the subject that they will want to continue learning about it, formally or informally, when the final chapter is completed and the course is over. Even that relatively modest aim is difficult to achieve. The author must strike the right balance between the theoretical and the practical, between breadth and depth of treatment, and between rigor and relevance, so that students are challenged but not daunted.