Peg Tittle

I argue that there are four solutions to the apparent contradiction of permitting abortion while prohibiting prenatal harm: there are other grounds both for condoning abortion and condemning prenatal harm which are not contradictory; there is a continuum of personhood or body; there is a continuum of rights; one can distinguish between the potentially born and the preborn on the sole basis of the woman’s intent to carry the fetus to term and give it birth. The fourth solution enables a consequentialist approach to assessing abortion and prenatal harm, such that permitting the former while prohibiting the latter is not contradictory.

* More than 100 classic and contemporary thought experiments, excerpted from their original sources, including Putnam's Brain in a Vat, The Liar Paradox, Zeno's Achilles, Taylor's Ingenious Physiologist, Pale's Watch, Hobbes's Ship of Theseus, Parfit's Teletransporter, Quine's Gavagai, Skyrmss' Dyromaniac, Plato's Ring of Gyges, Thomson's Violinist, and Carroll's Loathe Letter, among many others. * Brief and inexpensive, What If... can be assigned as a supplement in a variety of courses, including Introduction to Philosophy, Introduction to Ethics, Applied Ethics, and Introduction to Critical Thinking. * Organized by category, the thought experiments cover the major topics found in most introduction to philosophy courses, e.g., ethics; free will and determinism; philosophy of religion, epistemology, etc. * Each thought experiment presents a puzzling situation that demands a response and demonstrates that philosophy is valuable because many of these thought experiments address a genuine problem in life. * A short “commentary” accompanies each thought experiment, highlighting the important elements of the experiment and summarizing the context in which the thought experiment developed. * Thought-provoking questions and bibliographic entries at the end of each experiment give the reader additional resources for study. * Indexes organize the content by keyword, date of publication and author for easy referencing.

Peg Tittle’s ambitious business ethics text brings together readings, cases, and the author’s own informed opinions. The second edition includes over a dozen new readings and case studies, as well as a new chapter on issues in Information and Communication Technology. _Includes_ - Canonical and topical readings on issues ranging from whistleblowing and advertising to international business, the nature of capitalism, and the environment - Engaging overviews from the author encourage careful reflection and critical examination of conventional assumptions - _What to Do?_ scenarios and _Case Studies_ illustrate the practical relevance of each topic - Comprehensive introductions to ethical theory and the ethics of business - Questions following each selection test understanding and promote active reading - A primer on ethical institutions examines the role of ethics consultants, codes of ethics, and more

This book covers all the material typically addressed in first or second-year college courses in Critical Thinking: Chapter 1: Critical Thinking 1.1 What is critical thinking? 1.2 What is critical thinking not? Chapter 2: The Nature of Argument 2.1 Recognizing an Argument 2.2 Circular Arguments 2.3 Counterarguments 2.4 The Burden of Proof 2.5 Facts and Opinions 2.6 Deductive and Inductive Argument Chapter 3: The Structure of Argument 3.1 Convergent, Single 3.2 Convergent, Multiple 3.3 Divergent Chapter 4: Relevance 4.1 Relevance 4.2 Errors of Relevance Chapter 5: Language 5.1 Clarity 5.2 Neutrality 5.3 Definition Chapter 6: Truth and Acceptability 6.1 How do we define truth? 6.2 How do we discover truth? 6.3 How do we evaluate claims of truth? Chapter 7: Generalizations, Analogies, and General Principles 7.1 Sufficiency 7.2 Generalizations 7.3 Analogies 7.4 General Principles Chapter 8: Inductive Argument – Causal Reasoning 8.1 Causation 8.2 Explanations 8.3 Predictions, Plans, and Policies 8.4 Errors in Causal Reasoning (Three additional chapters – categorical logic, propositional logic, thinking critically about ethics – are available on the companion website.) Special Features: - The book takes a practice approach to learning how to think critically, so there are LOTS of exercises (within each chapter, focusing on discrete skills, and at the end of each chapter, focusing on more global skills in a cumulative fashion – thinking critically about what one sees, hears, reads, writes, and discusses). - There is an extensive “Answers, Explanations, and Analyses” section that provides not just ‘the right answer’ but explanations as to why the right answer is right and why wrong answers are wrong; when the exercise is not a matter of providing an answer but of analyzing material, a detailed analysis is provided in this section; this feature is intended to help the student fully understand why some arguments are better than others (and why it’s not ‘just a matter of opinion’!). - The regularly-appearing end-of-chapter “Thinking critically when you discuss” exercise is carefully graduated throughout the text, to gently lead students from sounding like a bad tv talk show to being able to hold an intelligent discussion. - The regularly-appearing end-of-chapter “Thinking critically about what you write” exercise assumes almost no skill at the beginning and leads up to, in the last chapter, writing a 2,000 word position paper. - A critical analysis template (a step-by-step approach to critical analysis) is presented in the first chapter and at the beginning of each subsequent chapter, and specific reference to it is made at the beginning of each end-of-chapter “Thinking critically about what you read” exercise (consisting of ten bits of increasing difficulty); this feature is intended to encourage the development of habitual, thorough analysis of arguments. - Actual questions from standardized reasoning tests like the LSAT, GMAT, MCAT, and GRE are included. - Ancillaries include an instructor’s manual; a test bank; PowerPoint slides; downloadable MP3 study guides; and interactive flash cards.

The gendered subcultures of our society may have different value systems. Consequently, sexual activity that involves members of these subcultures may be problematic, especially concerning the encoding and decoding of consent. This has serious consequences for labelling the activity as sex or sexual assault. Conceiving consent not as a mental act but as a behavioural act (that is, using a performative standard) would eliminate these problems. However, if we remove the mental element from one aspect, then to be consistent we must remove it from all; and, as a result, the “mistaken belief” defense would be eliminated and mens rea would become insignificant (in other words, if what the woman means is irrelevant, then what the man believes or intends should also be irrelevant). This consequence suggests major changes to our current conceptions of legal justice, which changes, if undesirable, prompt reconsideration of the initial proposal to use a performative standard for consent.

By transposing Nancy Fraser's theory of needs politics to identity politics, I hope to broaden our understanding of identity claims. Fraser argues that the politics of needs is comprised of three distinct but interrelated moments: (1) the struggle to establish or deny the political status of a given need, that is, the struggle to validate the need as a matter of legitimate political concern; (2) the struggle over the interpretation of the need, the struggle for the power to define it and, so, to determine what would satisfy it; and (3) the struggle over the satisfaction of the need. Transposed, these become a definition of identity politics, each aspect of which is explored: (1) the struggle to legitimate the identity; (2) the struggle to define the identity; and (3) the struggle to satisfy the identity. Remarking on the juxtaposition of a discourse about needs with discourses about rights and interests, Fraser formulates several important questions, three of which here simplified and transposed to identity: (1) Why has identity-talk become so prominent? (2) What are the major varieties of identity-talk? (3) What opportunities and/or obstacles does the identity idiom pose for movements interested in social transformation? I consider these questions with respect to identity politics and present answers to each, thus furthering a philosophical analysis of identity politics.

Would-be teachers are generally required to study fulltime for at least eight months before the state will allow them the responsibility of educating children for six hours a day. Many would say we have set the bar too low. And yet we haven’t even set the bar as high — in fact we haven’t set a bar at all — for parents. Should there be a national parenting policy, including mandatory parenthood training and screening of prospective parents? In this informative and thought-provoking collection of articles, experts from the disciplines of philosophy, psychology, psychiatry, law, political science, public health, sociology, and anthropology consider the many issues involved in licensing parents. Following a thorough introduction to these issues, editor Peg Tittle presents the contributions in three major sections. The first part focuses on parenting, presenting several proposals for licensing, then taking a closer look at the problem of assessing nurturing skills, drawing on work done in the areas of custody, adoption, and new reproductive technologies. The second part focuses on parentage, exploring the moral acceptability of passing on genetic disease, as well as the moral implications of genetic engineering. The third part examines in greater detail objections and replies to the concept of licensing parents. Does everyone have the right to have children? Should contraception ever be mandatory? Should prenatal abuse be criminalized? The informed debate on these and many other perplexing questions presented in this stimulating book will help to clarify this increasingly important issue.

The core of this text comprises chapters on all the key issues of business in Canada today. Each chapter includes a hypothetical case study and an introduction by the editor highlighting key ethical points; two academic essays; and a real-life case study. Questions for discussion accompany the essays and case studies. The editor has also included a general introduction to ethical theory; a section on institutionalizing ethics (discussing ethics officers/programs/codes, etc.); and appendices providing excerpts from important classic contributions to ethical theory and relevant Canadian law. The result is a comprehensive and useable course text particularly helpful for Canadian students.