Normative ethics is the study of what makes actions right or wrong, and includes such approaches as consequentialism, traditional deontology (including Kantian theory), virtue theory (including Aristotelian theory), and the ethics of care, a feminist approach. With contributions from over forty philosophers, The Oxford Handbook in Normative Ethics provides an overview of the major issues in contemporary normative ethics. The handbook begins with an introduction that provides an overview of the field and the relationships among the topics addressed in the volume. The chapters in Part I start with basic distinctions, introducing consequentialism, deontology, virtue theory, and value theory. Part II focuses on methodology in normative ethics and epistemological questions. Part III spotlights issues in responsibility and agency. Part IV is dedicated to general problems for normative theories, including particularism, collective action problems, and moral status.
David Copp is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of California, Davis. He is author of Ethical Naturalism and the Problem of Normativity (2025), Morality, Normativity, and Society (1995), and Morality in a Natural World (2007), and he edited The Oxford Handbook of Ethical Theory (2006). He served on the editorial boards of Ethics and the Canadian Journal of Philosophy and as a co-editor of the metaethics section of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. He has published and lectured widely on topics in moral and political philosophy.
Connie Rosati is Roy Allison Vaughan Centennial Professor in Philosophy and Professor of Law at the University of Texas at Austin. She has authored articles in metaethics, ethics, and the philosophy of law, including "Agency and the Open Question Argument," "The Makropulos Case Revisited: Reflections on Immortality and Agency," "Constitutional Realism," and "Welfare and Rational Fit." She has
served as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Ethics, Legal Theory, and the metaethics section of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Tina Rulli is a Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of California, Davis. She works in normative ethics, applied ethics, and bioethics, with a focus on population ethics and reproduction. Her papers include "Preferring a Genetically-Related Child," "Conditional Obligations," and "IIA, Rationality, and the Individuation of Options." She is co-Editor-in-Chief at the Journal of Applied Philosophy.
