Utilitarianism: For and Against
10 best books like Utilitarianism: For and Against (J.J.C. Smart): Principia Ethica (Philosophical Classics), An Introduction to Political Philosophy, Selected Essays, Moral Luck: Philosophical Papers 1973-1980, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion, Utilitarianism and Other Essays, Taking Rights Seriously: With a New Appendix, a Response to Critics, On Ends (De finibus bonorum et malorum), On the Plurality of Worlds, The Sources of Normativity
| Author | G.E. Moore |
| ISBN | 0486437523 |
Back at the dawn of the twentieth century, Bertrand Russell was telling folks to smarten up and learn to think analytically. Well, the general population thought nothing much about the kerfuffle that he was making at Oxbridge...
But a young fellow philosopher decided he might as well make...
What would life be like without the state? What justifies the state? Who should rule? How much liberty should the citizen enjoy? How should property be justly distributed? This book examines the central problems involved in political philosophy and the past attempts to respond to these problems....
| Author | David Hume |
| ISBN | 0192836218 |
In his writings, David Hume set out to bridge the gap between the learned world of the academy and the marketplace of polite society. This collection, drawing largely on his Essays Mortal, Political, and Literary (1776 edition), comprehensively shows how far he succeeded.
As seen in these...
| Author | Bernard Williams |
| ISBN | 0521286913 |
A new volume of philosophical essays by Bernard Williams. The book is a successor to Problems of the Self, but whereas that volume dealt mainly with questions of personal identity, Moral Luck centres on questions of moral philosophy and the theory of rational action. That whole area has of course been...
| Author | Brian Davies |
| ISBN | 0199263477 |
The third edition of An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion provides a critical examination of some fundamental questions posed by religious belief: What does belief in God amount to? Can God's existence be proved? Is there life after death?
Brian Davies considers these questions...
| Author | John Stuart Mill |
| ISBN | 0140432728 |
Clear, eloquent and profound, Mill's Utilitarianism has had an enormous influence on moral philosophy and is the idea introduction to ethics.
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was a reformer who applied the test of utility to the law and politics of his day. Legislators must aim at 'the greatest happiness...
| Author | Ronald Dworkin |
| ISBN | 0674867114 |
What is law? What is it for? How should judges decide novel cases when the statutes and earlier decisions provide no clear answer? Do judges make up new law in such cases, or is there some higher law in which they discover the correct answer? Must everyone always obey the law? If not, when is a citizen morally...
| Author | Marcus Tullius Cicero |
| ISBN | 0674990447 |
De finibus bonorum et malorum ("On the ends of good and evil") is a philosophical work by the Roman orator, politician and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero. It consists of five books, in which Cicero explains the philosophical views of Epicureanism, Stoicism, and the Platonism of Antiochus of Ascalon....
| Author | David Kellogg Lewis |
| ISBN | 0631224262 |
against all odds, i am extremely fond of this book. modal realism doesn't really do any of the work that i care most about doing, or resolve any of the questions that i care most about resolving, but i'll give this to david lewis, he seems to have done a great job of resolving the questions that HE cares most...
| Author | Christine M. Korsgaard |
Korsgaard is attempting to develop a neo-kantian ethic. Interestingly enough she does this both analytically and dialectically. Analytically in the sense that all her arguments are logical, and always attempting to contain a valid form. Dialectically, in that she is trying to take the good side...
| Author | Harry G. Frankfurt |
| ISBN | 0521336112 |
Of one thing there's no doubt: Fankfurt is a smart dude. His essays are crisp, clear, and relevant - at least, as relevant as one can reasonably expect a collection of philosophical essays to be.
Don't get me wrong: this is not an easy read. "The Importance of What We Care About" tackles some difficult...
| Author | Henry Sidgwick |
| ISBN | 0915145286 |
This Hackett edition, first published in 1981, is an unabridged and unaltered republication of the seventh (1907) edition as published by Macmillan and Company, Limited.
From the forward by John Rawls:
In the utilitarian tradition Henry Sidgwick (1838-1900) has an important...
Philippa Foot has for many years been one of the most distinctive and influential thinkers in moral philosophy. Long dissatisfied with the moral theories of her contemporaries, she has gradually evolved a theory of her own that is radically opposed not only to emotivism and prescriptivism but also...
| Author | John Leslie Mackie |
| ISBN | 0140135588 |
Recently, I decided to delve into meta-ethics, more specifically twentieth century-meta-ethics. With the fear of over-generalizing, up to the twentieth century ethics was pretty straightforward. There were: ethics rooted in metaphysics (Christianity, Kant, Spinoza, etc.); ethics rooted...
| Author | Kwame Anthony Appiah |
| ISBN | 0674026098 |
A nice, fairly-accessible-for-its-kind, type book. Appiah wants to reunite philosophy, psychology and economics. Having read the book, though, I can't help wondering whether he is trying to attach himself to these other disciplines where interesting work is actually taking place. This is contrast...
| Author | Christopher Janaway |
| ISBN | 0192802593 |
Schopenhauer is considered to be the most readable of German philosophers. This book gives a succinct explanation of his metaphysical system, concentrating on the original aspects of his thought, which inspired many artists and thinkers including Nietzsche, Wagner, Freud, and Wittgenstein....
| Author | Peter Singer |
| ISBN | 0631187855 |
In this volume, some of today's most distinguished philosophers survey the whole field of ethics, from its origins, through the great ethical traditions, to theories of how we ought to live, arguments about specific ethical issues, and the nature of ethics itself. The book can be read straight through...
| Author | Wilfrid Hodges |
| ISBN | 0141003146 |
If a man supports Arsenal one day and Spurs the next then he is fickle but not necessarily illogical. From this starting point, and assuming no previous knowledge of logic, Wilfrid Hodges takes the reader through the whole gamut of logical expressions in a simple and lively way. Readers who are more mathematically...
| Author | Thomas Nagel |
| ISBN | 0521406765 |
Fourteen essays in this book tie together the question of how philosophy applies in everyday life. Nagel’s writing drags a bit in places, and not all the essays are of equal interest. The personal nature of the inquiry is the book's main draw and the best reason for reading it. The most helpful approach...
| Author | Simon Blackburn |
| ISBN | 0198610130 |
Comprehensive and authoritative the Dictionary of Philosophy contains over 2,500 entries, including biographies of nearly 500 influential philosophers. The dictionary provides wide-ranging and lively coverage of not only Western philosophical traditions, but also themes from Chinese, Indian,...
Vice & Virtue in Everyday Life: Introductory Readings in Ethics
| Author | Christina Hoff Sommers |
| ISBN | 0495130060 |
VICE AND VIRTUE IN EVERYDAY LIFE has been a bestseller in college ethics for more than two decades because it is well-liked by both instructors and students. Instructors appreciate it for its philosophical breadth and seriousness. Students welcome the engaging topics and irresistible readings....
