Encyclopedia of Ethics

Edited by Lawrence C. Becker and Charlotte B. Becker. Three volumes. Second edition. New York: Routledge, 2001. xxxv + 1977 pp. $350.00 (cloth).

The construction of an encyclopedia must be a very difficult endeavor. Balancing the need for inclusiveness and selectivity, conciseness and thoroughness, timeliness and timelessness, cannot be easy. The Beckers admirably succeeded at the task with the first edition of the three-volume Encyclopedia of Ethics, published in 1992; the second edition of their compendium of ethical thought has only improved on the work, enhancing its already significant value.

The stated aim of the second edition is not to broaden the scope of the Encyclopedia, but to "deepen" it and to improve the design. As for the latter goal, the work as a whole is quite well organized and accessible, with an especially helpful alphabetical subject index. To accomplish the desired expansion of content, 150 new essays have been added which, indeed, do admit more substantive detail and nuance ("cheating" now warrants a heading of its own), and explore subjects of rather recently increased interest (there are new essays on both gay ethics and lesbian ethics). Moreover, entries from the first edition have been revised as needed. That is, while information about ancient Stoic thought has changed little since the Encyclopedia of Ethics was first published, other topics have not been as static: the article on genocide now mentions Rwanda and Bosnia. Despite the truth of Alasdair MacIntyre's indictment, in his Gifford Lectures, of the encyclopedic mode of moral inquiry, there may yet be something to be learned about the moral state of the world from tracking the topics with which ethics concerns itself, as displayed in successive versions of the Encyclopedia.

The emphasis is on theory, but matters of specific and pragmatic interest are not slighted. In addition, for example, to entries on Kantian ethics and on postmodernism, there are equally thoughtful discussions of abortion and euthanasia, blackmail and cost-benefit analysis, journalism and pacifism. The essays are of generally high quality, lucidly written, comprehensive, and well referenced. The thoroughness with which the matter of ethics is presented in this work is quite impressive. As just one instance, there is not only an entry for bioethics, but also one each for medical ethics (an important and often unacknowledged distinction, here made clear), the history of medical ethics, and nursing ethics. Well-known and influential voices in ethics are included also, either as entries-there are many sketches of moral philosophers from every age-or as authors; one can quibble over who is and is not represented, but what is offered is nevertheless extensive and catholic.

One particularly attractive feature of the Encyclopedia is the entry "History of Western Ethics"-an 86-page, 12-part, multi-authored section that is a valuable monograph in its own right. It provides an excellent overview, one worth sending students to examine, that serves well to remind us of the entangled roots and complex development of ethical premises and methods we tend to accept as "given," whether in the divine sense or not. In regard to the divine, the Encyclopedia is clearly secular in its focus; the aforementioned history, for example, is not at all a history of the development of theological ethics, much less Christian ethics, in the West (except, necessarily, for the essays on the medieval period). However, the attention given to religious ethics overall is wide-ranging and generally well done. There are entries, of roughly equal length, covering Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, and Jewish ethics, among others. The essay on Christian ethics is-as one would expect from its author, James Gustafson-even-handed and complete, although inevitably lacking the detail a scholar of the subject might be seeking; Anglican ethics is one paragraph within that essay. There are no separate entries for distinct strands of ethical thought within the Christian tradition, although there are articles about key persons, such as Thomas Aquinas and Martin Luther, and about topics particularly germane to Christian moral thought, such as natural law, mysticism, and hope.

In sum, the Encyclopedia of Ethics is an excellent work, which can be recommended with confidence to any college, university, or seminary library. The changes in this second edition are substantive and important enough to warrant replacing the 1992 version. Although it may not be a set one would expect to purchase for a private library, anyone who is a student and/or teacher of ethics would benefit from having a copy near at hand.

Margaret E Mohrmann

University of Virginia

Charlottesville, Virginia

Copyright Anglican Theological Review, Inc. Winter 2003
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