Ideas have consequences. And sometimes those ideas can be squeezed in to slogans, slapped on bumper stickers and tweeted into cyberspace. These compact messages coming at us from all directions often compress in a few words entire ethical systems. It turns out that there's a lot more to the ideas behind these slogans--ideas that need to be sorted out before we make important moral decisions as individuals or as societies. In this revised and expanded edition of Steve Wilkens's widely-used text, the author has updated his introductions to basic ethical systems:cultural relativismethical egoismutilitarianismbehaviorismsituation ethicsKantian ethicsvirtue ethicsnatural law ethicsdivine command theoryHe has also added two new chapters:evolutionary ethicsnarrative ethicsWith clarity and wit Wilkens unpacks the complicated ideas behind the slogans and offers Christian evaluations of each.

Steve Wilkens (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is professor of philosophy and ethics at Azusa Pacific University. His books include Hidden Worldviews, Faith and Reason: Three Views, Christianity Western Thought (volumes 2 and 3) and Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics. He has also taught as an adjunct faculty member at Mount San Antonio College, Glendale Community College, Fuller Theological Seminary and Azusa Pacific University's C. P. Haggard Graduate School of Theology.