Applied Ethics

This monograph presents a systematic treatment of applied ethics from a natural law perspective, defending traditional moral positions on contentious contemporary issues. Oderberg develops a comprehensive ethical framework rooted in Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophy, arguing that objective moral truths can be derived from human nature and natural teleology. The work addresses abortion, euthanasia, animal rights, environmental ethics, and other practical moral questions through rigorous philosophical analysis.

The author grounds his approach in a robust metaphysical realism that affirms the existence of human essences and natural purposes. This foundation enables him to argue that certain actions are intrinsically right or wrong based on whether they accord with or violate human nature and its proper ends. Oderberg explicitly rejects consequentialist and deontological alternatives, maintaining that virtue ethics provides the most coherent framework for moral reasoning. His natural law methodology draws heavily on Aquinas while engaging contemporary analytic philosophy to defend traditional positions against modern objections.

Throughout the work, Oderberg critiques prevailing secular approaches to bioethics and environmental philosophy. He argues that without a teleological understanding of nature and human beings, contemporary ethics lacks the resources to make principled distinctions between licit and illicit actions. The author particularly challenges Peter Singer's utilitarian approach to animal ethics and bioethics, arguing that it fails to recognize the unique dignity of human persons. Similarly, he opposes liberal positions on end-of-life issues by defending the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.

The monograph's significance for discussions about God lies in its implicit theistic framework. While Oderberg focuses primarily on ethical argumentation rather than natural theology, his natural law approach presupposes a divinely ordered creation with inherent purposes and meanings. The work demonstrates how traditional Christian moral teaching can be defended through philosophical argument accessible to natural reason. By showing that objective morality requires teleological foundations that naturalism cannot provide, Oderberg indirectly supports theistic metaphysics. His rigorous defense of perennial moral truths against relativist and materialist challenges contributes to broader arguments about the intellectual credibility of religious worldviews in contemporary philosophical discourse.