Home - Cambridge Scholars Publishing

The Ethics of the Family
Editor: Stephen Scales, Adam Potthast and Linda Oravecz
Date Of Publication: May 2010
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-2057-8
Isbn: 1-4438-2057-1
Our families are our first and most important ethical training grounds. But what is the family? And what are our ethical commitments to our family members and to the broader moral community? After a brief introductory chapter on basic ethical concepts and theories, the essays in this volume provide readers with ethical analyses of issues ranging from same-sex marriage to a controversial proposal to “license” parents. The chapters cover love, sex, marriage, parents and children, the relationship between the family and the larger moral community, and the influence of emerging technologies on the ethical issues inherent in family life. The volume is intended to open up this exciting territory in applied ethics to those interested in philosophy, family studies, social work, and to anyone who wants a deeper understanding of the ethical forces at work in this most basic social institution.

Stephen Scales is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Towson University in Towson, Maryland. Dr Scales received his BA in Liberal Arts from The New School for Social Research in 1986, and earned his PhD in philosophy from The University of California, San Diego in 1995. Dr Scales currently sits on the Executive Committee of the Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum. He has published on family ethics and ethics pedagogy.

Linda Oravecz is Assistant Professor in Family Studies and Community Development at Towson University. Her research interests include family and community violence, ethnic families and family policy.

Adam Potthast is Assistant Professor of Professional Ethics at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Missouri, where he teaches courses in ethics, political philosophy, and the meaning of life. He also co-wrote Ethics for Dummies (forthcoming June 2010) with Christopher Panza of Drury University.

“The Ethics of the Family is not just about ethics. And it is not just about family. It presents a cross-disciplinary and up-to-date scholarly approach to numerous social and philosophical controversies that involve different traditions, contrasting frameworks of justice, and current medical and technological developments. This could easily be used for several philosophy courses, including Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy and Human Nature. In addition, it would fit well into any ethics course in a Family Studies Department. Students will be surprised to find elements of their own lives in many of these chapters.”

—Dr. Alex Hooke, Stevenson University

“This comprehensive foray into the ethical issues inherent in family life marks an exciting frontier for ethical inquiry. The papers take us from artificial reproductive technologies to Confucian filial piety, from the ethics of same-sex marriage to claims of intergenerational justice between children and parents. This is fertile ground for students of ethics to explore and this volume is an excellent guidebook for the journey.”

—Dr. Wolfgang W. Fuchs, Towson University

Price Uk Gbp: 49.99
Price Us Usd: 74.99

Sample pdf (including Table of Contents)

We recommend

Language and Literature
Middle-earth and Beyond: Essays on the World of J. R. R. Tolkien

History
Arctic Discourses

Education
The Supportive School: Wellbeing and the Young Adolescent

Interesting reviews

From Navigating Music and Sound Education

“We rarely have the opportunity and time to engage with the practicalities of music teaching through the lens of evidence-based practice. This book provides us with a wonderful exception that is accessible to beginning and established teachers. It contains a wide range of stimulating and thought-provoking material that draws on real-world experiences and events, which are contextualised, informed and structured by theory. This is a powerful combination that we can visit again and again for insight and inspiration. Congratulations to all involved, particularly the editors for shaping such a valuable contribution!”
—Professor Graham F. Welch, University of London; President, International Society of Music Education

“Navigating music and sound education draws together a range of issues increasingly acknowledged to be at the basis of reflective and effective music learning and teaching: social settings, cultural dimensions, gender, indigeneity, varying cognitive approaches, inter-disciplinary connections, technology, types of learning, and creativity. It opens up areas of pedagogy that go beyond classroom methodology to acknowledge student individuality and encourage music learning and teaching grounded in the reality of students’ musical and social lives. It will be invaluable for those training to become educators and for teachers already in the field.”
—Associate Professor Peter Dunbar-Hall, University of Sydney

“This book brings an important contribution to music teacher education as it challenges the readers to rethink their paradigms of music education. It highlights the importance of preparing a reflective teacher, autonomous, creative and conscious of the multifaceted and multicultural locus in which they will work. The book also draws on the importance for music teachers to consider the context in which they work, and establish a dialog between local musical traditions, informal music practices and global trends of music teaching and learning. Most importantly, all chapters are in one way or another derived from research carried out on specific areas, thus stressing the importance of the research informed practice in music education.”
—Professor Liane Hentschke, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; International Society of Music Education Immediate Past President

Many readers will appreciate Steve Dillon and Kathy Hirche’s description of the future of education in their work with dynamic technological contexts.

Navigating Music and Sound Education is a wonderful guide and resource for pre-service music teachers, for teachers in the field, and for teacher educators.

It offers a range of fresh perspectives on the state of music education as it is and as it might be. Kari K Veblen

Navigating Music and Sound Education is an ambitious project which features current research from 20 individuals whose professional identities run the gamut from musician to songwriter to student to educator to music therapist to ethnomusicologist. The book’s scope is perhaps the most exciting aspect of Navigating Music and Sound Education.
Kari K Veblen
University of Western Ontario
British Journal of Music Education
October 2011