Social Science Information Gateway

This website provides access to the full contents of 'Ethics: An Online Textbook'. The work is prepared by Stephen O'Sullivan and Philip A. Pecorino of Suffolk County Community College, New York. The first thirteen chapters discuss what Ethics is about and introduce readers to the different theories underpinning this branch of Philosophy. These are presented under the following chapter headings: Moral Development, Mores and Law; Relativism; Ethical Theories; Teleological Theories: Egoism; Teleological Theories: Utilitarianism; Deontological Theories: Natural Law Theory; Kantian Theory: The Categorical Imperative; Rawls Theory: Justice as Fairness; Post Modernism: Pragmatism; Existentialism; Feminism; and Relativism Reconsidered. The last four chapters explore the application of ethical principles in the areas of Medicine and Health Care; Social Policy; Business; and Computers and Technology. All the chapters are divided further into several sections, and links are provided to a number of online resources when the various issues are explored. The work also contains discussion topics which could be used by teachers of Ethics.

This website provides access to the fifth edition of 'Perspectives on Death and Dying: An Online Textbook'. The work was edited by Dr Philip A. Pecorino, a professor of Philosophy at Queensborough Community College, New York. This edition is available only as an electronic text but all documents are also provided in PDF for those wishing to print them. Adobe Acrobat Reader can be downloaded from the site. This online textbook is primarily intended for teaching purposes, but it would also benefit anyone with an interest in end of life issues. The work contains twelve chapters in all: Introduction; Literature and Death: A Case Study; Learning from the Dying; Caring for the Dying; Anticipatory Grief and the Family; Grief; Anthropology and Death: Different Cultures; The Definition of Death; Transplantation and Other Uses for Dead Bodies; End of Life Decisions; Infanticide; and Deciding Who Lives and Who Dies.