Synopses & Reviews
What is good? How can we know, and how important is it? In this book Richard Kraut, one of our most respected analytical philosophers, reorients these questions around the notion of what causes human beings to flourish--that is, what is good for us. Observing that we can sensibly talk about what is good for plants and animals no less than what is good for people, Kraut advocates a general principle that applies to the entire world of living things: what is good for complex organisms consists in the maturation and exercise of their natural powers.
Drawing on the insights of ancient Greek philosophy, Kraut develops this thought into a good-centered moral philosophy, an "ethics of well-being" that requires all of our efforts to do some good. Even what is good of a kind--good poems no less than good people--must be good for someone. Pleasure plays a key role in this idea of flourishing life, but Kraut opposes the current philosophical orthodoxy of well-being, which views a person's welfare as a construct of rational desires or plans, actual or ideal.
The practical upshot of Kraut's theory is that many common human pursuits--for riches, fame, domination--are in themselves worthless, while some of the familiar virtues--justice, honesty, and autonomy--are good for every human being.
Review
Kraut's account fills a wide gap in the literature. What is Good and Why is a superb work, one that should have long-lasting influence. Samuel Freeman, University of Pennsylvania
Review
Have Rawls and Nozick met their match? The titans of late-twentieth-century social philosophy do indeed find an acute critic--and possible successor--in Kraut. For in this groundbreaking inquiry into the nature of goodness, Kraut exposes the inadequacy of all previous ethical thinking, including Rawls' and Nozick's. Kraut is particularly thorough in his demolition of the cognitive theory that requires each individual to construct his or her own definition of the good. Because good must mean good for, Kraut argues, human good finally entails whatever fosters human flourishing, a flourishing that almost everyone can recognize and agree on...Religious-minded readers may protest that Kraut metaphysically impoverishes human goodness when he explicitly rejects immortality. But many other readers will praise him for enriching contemporary dialogue about fundamental ethical questions. An essential acquisition in social philosophy. Library Journal
Review
Offers an original, persuasive, and substantial defense of an Aristotelian approach to ethics for today. His central claim is that all good practical arguments in ethics rest on claims about what is good or bad for someone. Like utilitarianism, Kraut places good at the heart of morality--but without what he regards as its misplaced emphasis on desire satisfaction, quantification, or maximization. Like Kantianism, Kraut recognizes the importance of considerations of duty and justice--but without what he regards as its failure to ground them in harm and benefit to others. Kraut situates his approach within contemporary discussions of ethical theory, considering, for example, John Rawis, Thomas Nagel, T. M. Scanlon, James Griffin, and Joseph Raz, as well as older theorists such as Jeremy Bentham, J. S. Mill, Henry Sidgwick, G. E. Moore, and W. D. Ross. This approach gives his work depth and relevance, though he discusses few in detail. In summary, this volume offers a robust defense of a non-Kantian, nonutilitarian approach to ethics. Guy Kahane - Times Higher Education Supplement
Review
What is Good and Why is filled not just with clearly expressed and compelling philosophical arguments, but with a lot of sound practical wisdom. It is enjoyable, enlightening, and also quite revolutionary. It deserves--and will benefit--a very wide readership. C. D. C. Reeve, author of < i=""> Love ' s Confusions <>
Review
Continuing in the tradition of Socrates and Plato, Kraut seeks to examine the nature of 'goodness' and proposes that 'we should ask what we commit ourselves to when we call something good for someone.'...According to Kraut, goodness is not a mind-constructed value, nor is it related to moral concepts such as right and wrong. Instead, it is based on existent world values. These values all contain similar characteristics that add to our cognitive, social, and physical well-being. Through coherent writing and familiar examples, Kraut does a wonderful job of showing that what is good does not require abstract analysis but can instead be found by combining common sense and rationality. Scott Duimstra
Review
The view [Kraut] develops, while having affinities with other recent work, is nevertheless substantially original and worked out in impressive detail. Bryce Christensen - Booklist (starred review)
Synopsis
What is good, how do we know, and how important is it? In this book, one of our most respected analytical philosophers reorients these questions around the notion of what causes human beings to flourish. Observing that we can sensibly address what is good for plants and animals no less than what is good for people, Kraut applies a general principle to the entire living world: what is good for complex organisms consists in the exercise of their natural powers.
About the Author
Richard Kraut is Charles and Emma Morrison Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University.
Northwestern University
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Part I: In Search of Good
1. A Socratic Question
2. Flourishing and Well-Being
3. Mind and Value
4. Utilitarianism
5. Rawls and the Priority of the Right
6. Right, Wrong, Should
7. The Elimination of Moral Rightness
8. Rules and Good
9. Categorical Imperatives
10. Conflicting Interests
11. Whose Good? The Egoist's Answer
12. Whose Good? The Utilitarian's Answer
13. Self-Denial, Self-Love, Universal Concern
14. Pain, Self-Love, and Altruism
15. Agent-Neutrality and Agent-Relativity
Part II: Good, Conation, and Pleasure
16. "Good" and "Good for"
17. "Good for" and Advantage
18. "Good that" and "Bad that"
19. Pleasure and Advantage
20. Good for S That P
21. The "for" of "Good for"
22. Plants, Animals, Humans
23. Ross on Human Nature
24. The Perspectival Reading of "Good for"
25. The Conative Approach to Well-Being
26. Abstracting from the Content of Desires and Plans
27. The Faulty Mechanisms of Desire Formation
28. Infants and Adults
29. The Conation of an Ideal Self
30. The Appeal of the Conative Theory
31. Conation Hybridized
32. Strict Hedonism
33. Hedonism Diluted
Part III: Prolegomenon to Flourishing
34. Development and Flourishing: The General Theory
35. Development and Flourishing: The Human Case
36. More Examples of What Is Good
37. Appealing to Nature
38. Sensory Un-flourishing
39. Affective Flourishing and Un-flourishing
40. Hobbes on Tranquillity and Restlessness
41. Flourishing and Un-flourishing as a Social Being
42. Cognitive Flourishing and Un-flourishing
43. Sexual Flourishing and Un-flourishing
44. Too Much and Too Little
45. Comparing Lives and Stages of Life
46. Adding Goods: Rawls's Principle of Inclusiveness
47. Art, Science, and Culture
48. Self-Sacrifice
49. The Vanity of Fame
50. The Vanity of Wealth
51. Making Others Worse-Off
52. Virtues and Flourishing
53. The Good of Autonomy
54. What Is Good and Why
Part IV: The Sovereignty of Good
55. The Importance of What Is Good for Us
56. Good's Insufficiency
57. Promises
58. Retribution
59. Cosmic Justice
60. Social Justice
61. Pure Antipaternalism
62. Moral Space and Giving Aid
63. Slavery
64. Torture
65. Moral Rightness Revisited
66. Lying
67. Honoring the Dead
68. Meaningless Goals and Symbolic Value
69. Good-Independent Realms of Value
70. Good Thieves and Good Human Beings
71. Final Thoughts
Works Cited
Index