The Elements of Moral Philosophy

The Elements of Moral Philosophy, by James Rachels and Stuart Rachels, is the best selling textbook in the field of ethics. It may be the best selling book in all of academic philosophy, after such classics as Plato's Republic and Descartes' Meditations. It is organized around the great moral theories--Utilitarianism, the Social Contract Theory, Kantianism, and so on--but it always uses real-life examples to explain what these theories mean. James Rachels wrote the first edition in 1986.