Synopses & Reviews
A collection of essays by Fred Feldman on utilitarian moral philosophy.
Review
"Considered individually, the essays are of a very high quality. They set out the problems they deal with in an exceptionally clear way, and the conclusions reached are always well defended. Considered as a whole, the collection is equally impressive. The attempt to reconcile consequentialism and deontology is a strength of Feldman's view. It also makes less plausible Feldman's claim that utilitarianism is the best expression of the intuition that we ought to do the best we can. In any case, it surely makes the collection of even more interest." Dialogue
Table of Contents
Introduction; Part I. Utilitarianism: 1. World utilitarianism; 2. On the extensional equivalence of simple and general utilitarianism; 3. The principle of moral harmony; 4. On the consistency of act and motive utilitarianism; Part II. Hedonism: 5. Two questions about pleasure; 6. Mill, Moore, and the consistency of qualified Hedonism; 7. On the intrinsic value of pleasures; Part III. Desert: 8. Adjusting utility for justice; 9. Desert: reconsideration of some received wisdom; 10. Justice, desert, and the repugnant conclusion; Index of subjects; Index of persons; Index of cases.