Overview

Utilitarianism – a commitment to ‘the greatest happiness for the greatest number’ – has been the target of endless opposition. According to its critics, it ignores the separateness of persons, cannot secure the protections of basic rights, demands extreme sacrifice, can justify anything – the list goes on. It has been implicated in the horrors of settler colonialism, imperialism, and racial capitalism, both historically and today, as the neoliberal world order faces a profound legitimation crisis. Bart Schultz argues that utilitarian philosophy must be decolonized and reimagined for the current moment: a time of new and looming existential threats, in a world desperate for social change. Where dominant ethical and political approaches have failed to adequately deal with the enormous challenges we face, utilitarianism – as a set of lived practices, not simply a theoretical construction – may hold out some hope of seriously addressing them. Drawing on alternatives to the well-known Eurocentric story of utilitarianism (and an extensive review and critique of that story) and incorporating the works of Peter Singer, Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek, Derek Parfit, Martha Nussbaum, and other major philosophers, Schultz crafts a groundbreaking new framework of utilitarianism born of struggle and resistance. Utilitarianism as a Way of Life is an essential text for scholars and students of philosophy, political science, economics, decolonization studies, gender studies, psychology, environmental studies, and related fields.

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9781509552269

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Reviews

“In this brilliant, engaging, and perceptive book, Bart Schultz breathes new life into the utilitarian project, illuminating its potential as a source of inspiration for living well in the modern world. A tour de force.” Roger Crisp, University of Oxford “This book provides an exciting new approach to one of the most important ethical theories – utilitarianism. Schultz uses critical race theory to resist and reshape Mill’s classical idea of liberalism. With his ‘Utilitarianism against Mill’ project, he shows that what we thought once to be a necessary value of Western thought has been shaped by colonialism and racism.” Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek, The European Graduate School

"""In this brilliant, engaging, and perceptive book, Bart Schultz breathes new life into the utilitarian project, illuminating its potential as a source of inspiration for living well in the modern world. A tour de force."" Roger Crisp, University of Oxford"

Author Information

Bart Schultz is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Chicago.

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