Dealing with a diverse set of problems in practical and theoretical
ethics, these fourteen essays, three of them previously unpublished,
reconfirm Joel Feinberg's leading position in the field of legal
philosophy. With a clarity and humor that will be familiar to readers of
his other works, Feinberg writes on topics including "wrongful life"
suits in the law of torts, or whether there is any sense in the remark
that a person is so badly off that he would be better off not existing
at all; the morality of abortion; educational options; free expression;
civil disobedience; and the duty of easy rescue in criminal law. He
continues with a three-part defense of moral rights in the abstract, a
discussion of voluntary euthanasia, and an inquiry into arguments of
various kinds for not granting legal rights in enforcement of a person's
acknowledged moral rights. This collection concludes with two essays
dealing with concepts used in appraising the whole of a person's life:
absurdity and self-fulfillment, and their interplay.