Ethics, Revised Edition, is the first revision of Salem Press's well-received Ethics, which was published in 1994. This new edition adds more than 200 completely new articles to the set, raising the total to 1,007 essays and 6 appendices. This edition also updates and expands many of the original essays and adds other new features. The main thrust of this edition is on applied ethics, with particular emphasis on current issues.
Ethics, in one form or another, has been a central issue in history since the earliest human beings began living together in communities. Throughout human history, people have always wondered whether they were being held accountable for their actions by a higher power or powers. Those believing that such higher powers exist have needed to know what their relationships with those powers are and what they are required to do or not to do. Those lacking such beliefs have needed to believe that their lives have meaning; they, in turn, have wondered how they should act and what they should do. In addition, all people need to know what other people expect of them and what the limits of their freedom of action are. All these questions are essentially ethical matters.