CONTENTS Preface and Acknowledgements 5 1. Ethics and the World 15 Ethics as a condition of the World 16 Applicability to the World 17 Justified Violations, Defeasibility and Applied Ethics 21 Absolute Standards Account for Inapplicability 28 Logical Consistency and Applicability 31 Dharmas, Conflicts and Defeasibility 33 Critique of Svadharma as Swabhavaja 37 2. Moral Personhood: Natural Propensity of Man to Act Morally 43 Persons as Naturally Moral 44 Rationality and Moral Personhood 45 Spirituality and Moral Personhood 53 3. Morality, Objectivity and Applicability 63 Objectivity and Moral Scepticism 64 Universalisability vis-a-vis Objectivity 66 Claims of Objectivity: An Elucidatory Note 73 Moral Realism and Objectivity 74 Understanding Mackie 75 Objectivity and Independence 80 Objective Tolerance: The Secondary Quality Model of Value Awareness 84 Craving for Absolute Objectivity: Sources and Solution86 Applicability and Objectivity93 4. Ethics of Rights and Justice97 Rights: Justification, Status and Right-Making Properties Justification of Rights 98 Right-Making Properties 101 Some Theories of Rights Considered104 Rights are Moral in Nature 107 On the Status of Rights 108 Conflicts of Rights with Rights and Duties114 Right to Equality 120 Justice, Equality and Just-Making Considerations Justice and Equality: The Close Tie 121 Just-making Conditions 124 Meaning of Equality vis-a-vis Just-making Conditions126 Justice as Preferential Treatment 130 5. Ethics in Business 134 Business Ethics: The Concept and the Problem 135 Why and What is Business Ethics137 Ethics and Business 144 The Kantian Model146 The Teleological Model 156 Universality and Consistency 163 6. Environmental Ethics: Duties to and Rights of Animals, Plants and the Environment 178 Special Features of Environmental Ethics 179 Forms of Environmental Ethics: Anthropocentric and Bio-centric 183 Inherent Worth, Intrinsic Value and Good of a Being 191 Good of the Plants and the Non-living Things 200 What it is to Have a Right? Reflections on a Right Based Environmental Ethics 214 Ethics of Respect for Nature and Blueprint for a Secular Environmentalism 226 Bibliography 234 Index 240