Overview

An Introduction to Utilitarianism: From Theory to Practice is a state-of-the-art text, simultaneously accessible to introductory students and informative for more advanced readers. Two key features set it apart. First, its comprehensive coverage of the arguments for and against utilitarianism is unparalleled. Second, it takes seriously the practical implications of utilitarianism for how we should live, with a particular emphasison utilitarianism's impartial beneficenceand its focus on effectiveness. Guided by the conviction that practical ethics is more about how best to use our limited time and resources than which victims to hit with trolleys in thought experiments, its practical upshots should prove amenable to utilitarians and non-utilitarians alike.

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9781647922009

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This is the perfect introduction to utilitarianism: comprehensive, critical and accessible as a basis for classroom discussion or public debate.” —Philip Pettit, Princeton University/Australian National University ​""I'll certainly be referring my students to this very useful resource. Enthusiasm for utilitarianism among moral philosophers has ebbed and flowed since the modern version of it was laid out in the nineteenth-century; but the importance of the utilitarian tradition in providing elaborate, well-developed, general theories for thinking about how we ought to behave has been clear all along. This textbook provides lucid introductions to the major contributions of and challenges to utilitarian thinking, today."" —Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York University ""This is a truly excellent book. Its persuasive articulation of utilitarianism shows us why the theory has enjoyed such popularity during so many historical periods. It carefully considers all the most frequently heard objections and shows us how they go wrong. No other book on utilitarianism—and perhaps no other book in normative ethics – is so clear, comprehensive, and convincing."" —Neil Sinhababu, National University of Singapore

Author Information

Richard Yetter Chappell(University of Miami) authored Parfit's Ethics. Darius Meissner has an M.A. in Security Studies from Georgetown University and a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Oxford. William MacAskill (University of Oxford) authored Doing Good Betterand What We Owe The Future,and co-authored Moral Uncertainty. Will helped to start the effective altruism movement, which seeks to use evidence and reason to maximize the effectiveness of time and money devoted to helping others. He cofounded Giving What We Can, 80,000 Hours, The Centre for Effective Altruismand the Global Priorities Institute.

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