Consequences of Compassion
Book
Please note that many items in our library are simply pages that represent a detailed library catalog entry and citation of someone else's work, presentation, or performance. Read our General Disclaimer for more information. You can find more information about this item on the publisher website.
Description
To many Westerners, the most appealing teachings of the Buddhist tradition pertain to ethics. Many readers have drawn inspiration from Buddhism's emphasis on compassion, nonviolence, and tolerance, its concern for animals, and its models of virtue and self-cultivation. There has been, however, controversy and confusion about which Western ethical theories resemble Buddhist views and in what respects. In this book, Charles Goodman illuminates the relations between Buddhist concepts and Western ethical theories. Every version of Buddhist ethics, says Goodman, takes the welfare of sentient beings to be the only source of moral obligations. Buddhist ethics can thus be said to be based on compassion in the sense of a motivation to pursue the welfare of others. On this interpretation, the fundamental basis of the various forms of Buddhist ethics is the same as that of the welfarist members of the family of ethical theories that analytic philosophers call 'consequentialism.' Goodman uses this hypothesis to illuminate a variety of questions. He examines the three types of compassion practiced in Buddhism and argues for their implications for important issues in applied ethics, especially the justification of punishment and the question of equality. (Source: Oxford University Press)
Citation
Goodman, Charles. Consequences of Compassion: An Interpretation and Defense of Buddhist Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Publisher Link
People Mentioned
- Introduction2
- 1. Fundamental Buddhist Teachings9
- 2. Main Features of Some Western Ethical Theories23
- 3. Theravāda Ethics as Rule-Consequentialism49
- The Structure of Theravāda Ethics49
- Well-Being in Theravāda Ethics64
- 4. Mahāyāna Ethics before Śāntideva79
- 5. Śāntideva and After96
- The System of Śāntideva96
- Tibetan Path Literature114
- 6. Transcending Ethics119
- On Having No Self119
- Emptiness133
- 7. Buddhist Ethics and the Demands of Consequentialism145
- 8. Buddhism on Moral Responsibility161
- 9. Punishment184
- Nāgārjuna on Punishment184
- Practical Implications198
- 10. Objections and Replies203
- Interpretive Objections203
- Substantive Objections210
- 11. A Buddhist Response to Kant220
- Conclusion240
- Bibliography243
- Index253
