Morality, Rules, and Consequences : : A Critical Reader / / Brad Hooker, Elinor Mason, Dale E. Miller.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Edinburgh University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2013-2000
• VerfasserIn: Hooker, Brad,; Mason, Elinor,; Miller, Dale E.,
• MitwirkendeR: Haslett, D. W.,; Hooker, Brad,; Kagan, Shelly,; Levy, Sanford S.,; Lyons, David,; Mason, Elinor,; Miller, Dale E.,; Montague, Phillip,; Mulgan, Tim,; Pettit, Philip,; Powers, Madison,; Riley, Jonathan,; Shaw, William H.,; Smith, Michael,; Thomas, Alan,
• Place / Publishing House: Edinburgh : : Edinburgh University Press, , [2022]; ©2000
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (272 p.)

What determines whether an action is right or wrong? One appealing idea is that a moral code ought to contain a number of rules that tell people how to behave and that are simple and few enough to be easily learned. Another appealing idea is that the consequences of actions matter, often more than anything else. Rule consequentialism tries to weave these two ideas into a general theory of morality. This theory holds that morally wrong actions are the ones forbidden by rules whose acceptance would maximize the overall good.Morality, Rules and Consequences: A Critical Reader explores for students and researchers the relationship between consequentialist theory and moral rules. Most of the chapters focus on rule consequentialism or on the distinction between act and rule versions of consequentialism. Contributors, many of whom are the leading philosophers in the area, suggest ways of assessing whether rule consequentialism could be a satisfactory moral theory. These essays, all of which are previously unpublished, provide students in Moral Philosophy with essential material and ask key questions on just what the criteria for an adequate moral theory might be.Key FeaturesThe volume presents original scholarship on an important and developing area of contemporary moral philosophyThe contributors are the leading philosophers in the fieldAdvances debate about whether rule consequentialism is a satisfactory moral theoryA balanced collection containing essays by supporters of the theory and its criticsContributors: David Haslett, Brad Hooker, Shelly Kagan, Sanford Levy, David Lyons, Dale E. Miller, Phillip Montague, Tim Mulgan, Philip Pettit, Madison Powers, Jonathan Riley, William Shaw, Michael Smith and Alan Thomas.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- 1 Between Act and Rule: The Consequentialism of G. E. Moore -- 2 The Educational Equivalence of Act and Rule Utilitarianism -- 3 Defending Rule Utilitarianism -- 4 Values, Obligations, and Saving Lives -- 5 The Moral Opacity of Utilitarianism -- 6 Global Consequentialism -- 7 Evaluative Focal Points -- 8 Hooker's Use and Abuse of Reflective Equilibrium -- 9 Consequentialism and the Subversion of Pluralism -- 10 Why Rule Consequentialism is not Superior to Ross-style Pluralism -- 11 Ruling Out Rule Consequentialism -- 12 Reflective Equilibrium and Rule Consequentialism -- 13 Rule Consequentialism and the Value of Friendship -- Notes on Contrihutors -- Index