Review of Robin Attfield, Ethics: An Overview, London and New York, Continuum (Now Bloomsbury), 2012

Attfield’s ethics textbook is a key resource for students of ethics, and covers history of ethics, value-theory, normative ethics, applied ethics, meta-ethics and free-will. Historical sections are used to explain how stances like virtue ethics and consequentialism came to unfold, and issues of human responsibility to be debated. Theories of value as supplying reasons for action inform the study of both normative ethics and meta-ethics. Normative theories are applied to sustainability, medicine, treatment of animals and the environment, development, and the ethics of war. The companion website will assist instructors and students alike, particularly with more challenging topics such as meta-ethics.