Download or read book Kantian Consequentialism written by David Cummiskey and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1996-01-18 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The central problem for normative ethics is the conflict between a consequentialist view--that morality requires promoting the good of all--and a belief that the rights of the individual place significant constraints on what may be done to help others. Standard interpretations see Kant as rejecting all forms of consequentialism, and defending a theory which is fundamentally duty-based and agent-centered. Certain actions, like sacrificing the innocent, are categorically forbidden. In this original and controversial work, Cummiskey argues that there is no defensible basis for this view, that Kant's own arguments actually entail a consequentialist conclusion. But this new form of consequentialism which follows from Kant's theories has a distinctly Kantian tone. The capacity of rational action is prior to the value of happiness; thus providing justification for the view that rational nature is more important than mere pleasures and pains.
Download or read book Ought Implies Kant written by Joel Marks and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2009-01-16 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ought Implies Kant offers an original defense of the ethical theory of Immanuel Kant, and develops an extension of that theoryOs account of moral duty to include direct duties to nonhuman animals. The discussion centers on a critical examination of consequentialism, the view that the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined solely by its consequences. Kantianism, by contrast, claims that the core of ethics is to treat all persons_or, in Joel MarksOs view, all living beings_as ends-in-themselves. The consequentialist criterion would seem to permit, indeed require, violating the dignity of persons (not to mention the dignity of other animals) if this would result in a better outcome. This volume treats the consequentialist challenge to Kantian ethics in several novel ways. To begin with, the utilitarian version of consequentialism is delineated and defended by means of a conceptual device dubbed by the author as the Consequentialist Continuum. Marks then provides an exhaustive and definitive exposition of the relatively neglected Epistemic Objection to utilitarianism. While acknowledging the intuitive appeal of utilitarianismOs core conviction_that we should always do what is for the best_Marks argues that this is an impossible injunction to fulfill, or even to attempt to fulfill, because all of the relevant results of our actions can never be known. Kantianism is then introduced as a viable alternative account of our ethical obligations. Marks argues that Kantianism is well within the scope of normal human competence and conforms equally well to our ethical intuitions once the theoryOs proper interpretation is appreciated. However, KantOs own version must be extended to accommodate the rightful moral consideration we owe to nonhuman animals. Finally, Marks employs the notion of a Consequentialist Illusion to explain utilitarianismOs hold on our moral intuitions, while developing a form of Consequentialist Kantianism to address them. An original and penetrating examination of a central debate in moral philosophy, this book will be of interest to philosophical ethicists, upper-level and graduate philosophy students, and the intellectual reading public.
Download or read book Kant and Parfit written by Husain Sarkar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-09-30 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Derek Parfit's On What Matters is widely recognized as elegant, profound, and destined to change the landscape of moral philosophy. In Volume One, Parfit argues that the distinct--indeed, powerfully conflicting--theories of deontology and contractualism can be woven together in a way so as to yield utilitarian conclusions. Husain Sarkar in this book calls this, The Ultimate Derivation. Sarkar argues, however, that this derivation is untenable. To underwrite this conclusion, this book traverses considerable Parfitian terrain. Sarkar shows why Parfit hasn't quite solved what Sidgwick had called "the profoundest problem in ethics"; he offers a reading of Kant, Rawls, and Scanlon that reveals Parfit's keen utilitarian bias; and he demonstrates why Parfit's Triple Theory does not succeed in its task of unifying conflicting moral theories (without making substantial utilitarian assumptions). The final chapter of the book is about meta-ethics. It shows that Parfit's Convergence Principle is mistaken even though it unveils Parfit's utterly humane concerns: Moral philosophers are not, as Parfit thinks, climbing the same mountain. But for all that, Sarkar maintains, Parfit's book is arguably the greatest consequential tract in the history of moral philosophy.
Download or read book Consequentialism written by Christian Seidel and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Consequentialism is a focal point of moral philosophy. Recently, new wave consequentialists have presented theories which proved extremely flexible and powerful in meeting influential objections. The volume explores new directions within this project, raises fundamental problems for it, and gives a balanced assessment of its scope in commonsense moral practice.
Download or read book Kant s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals written by Jens Timmermann and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-06-21 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a paragraph-by-paragraph commentary on Kant's seminal work of moral philosophy.
Download or read book Consequentialism and Environmental Ethics written by Avram Hiller and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-04 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume works to connect issues in environmental ethics with the best work in contemporary normative theory. Environmental issues challenge contemporary ethical theorists to account for topics that traditional ethical theories do not address to any significant extent. This book articulates and evaluates consequentialist responses to that challenge. Contributors provide a thorough and well-rounded analysis of the benefits and limitations of the consequentialist perspective in addressing environmental issues. In particular, the contributors use consequentialist theory to address central questions in environmental ethics, such as questions about what kinds of things have value; about decision-making in light of the long-term, intergenerational nature of environmental issues; and about the role that a state’s being natural should play in ethical deliberation.
Download or read book Consequentialism and Its Critics written by Samuel Scheffler and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents papers discussing arguments on both sides of the consequentialist debate. The distinguished contributors include John Rawls, Bernard Williams, Thomas Nagel, Derek Parfit, among others.
Download or read book Kant s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals written by Jens Timmermann and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-12-24 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume discusses Kant's philosophical development in the Groundwork and his attempt to justify the categorical imperative as a principle of freedom.
Download or read book The Value of Humanity in Kant s Moral Theory written by Richard Dean and published by Clarendon Press. This book was released on 2006-05-11 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The humanity formulation of Kant's Categorical Imperative demands that we treat humanity as an end in itself. Because this principle resonates with currently influential ideals of human rights and dignity, contemporary readers often find it compelling, even if the rest of Kant's moral philosophy leaves them cold. Moreover, some prominent specialists in Kant's ethics recently have turned to the humanity formulation as the most theoretically central and promising principle of Kant's ethics. Nevertheless, despite the intuitive appeal and the increasingly recognized philosophical importance of the humanity formulation, it has received less attention than many other, less central, aspects of Kant's ethics. Richard Dean offers the most sustained and systematic examination of the humanity formulation to date. Dean argues that the 'rational nature' that must be treated as an end in itself is not a minimally rational nature, consisting of the power to set ends or the unrealized capacity to act morally, but instead is the more properly rational nature possessed by someone who gives priority to moral principles over any contrary impulses. This non-standard reading of the humanity formulation provides a firm theoretical foundation for deriving plausible approaches to particular moral issues - and, contrary to first impressions, does not impose moralistic demands to pass judgment on others' character. Dean's reading also enables progress on problems of interest to Kant scholars, such as reconstructing Kant's argument for accepting the humanity formulation as a basic moral principle, and allows for increased understanding of the relationship between Kant's ethics and supposedly Kantian ideas such as 'respect for autonomy'.
Download or read book Virtue Rediscovered written by Nathan Wood and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-11-29 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Virtue ethics occupies the strange position of being one of the oldest and most prominently discussed ethical theories throughout history, and yet many contemporary moral philosophers do not recognize it as a genuine alternative to currently prominent normative theories, such as utilitarianism or Kantian ethics. In Virtue Rediscovered: Deontology, Consequentialism, and Virtue Ethics in the Contemporary Moral Landscape, Nathan Wood argues that this discrepancy requires us to rethink how we understand the function and purpose of normative ethical theories, especially insofar as such theories are expected to be action guiding. All ethical theories guide action, but they do so in two different ways. One way is through stipulating criteria for what we ought to do, but another way is setting a core concern that represents an account of what lies at the heart of morality and determines the moral salience of features in the world. This framework not only clarifies the nature of deontology, consequentialism, and virtue ethics, but also recasts the debate among them.
Download or read book Absolutism and Its Consequentialist Critics written by Joram Graf Haber and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 1994 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is the judicial execution of the innocent permissible to deter crime? Some advocates of consequentialism would respond yes, while moral absolutists argue that certain kinds of conduct, including this one, are absolutely prohibited, no matter what the consequences. This is the first collection that does justice to absolutism in its richness and subtleties.
Download or read book Virtue Rules and Justice written by Thomas E. Hill Jr. and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-31 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas E. Hill, Jr., interprets and extends Kant's moral theory in a series of essays that highlight its relevance to contemporary ethics. He introduces the major themes of Kantian ethics and explores its practical application to questions about revolution, prison reform, and forcible interventions in other countries for humanitarian purposes.
Download or read book Kant s Impact on Moral Philosophy written by Paul Guyer and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024-02-01 with total page 683 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Immanuel Kant introduced a new paradigm into modern moral philosophy, first with his Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals in 1785, followed by his Critique of Practical Reason in 1788, Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason in 1793, and Metaphysics of Morals in 1798. For Kant, the fundamental goal of morality is not the realization of the greatest happiness for the greatest number, under some interpretation of that formula, but the realization of human autonomy governed by pure reason in the form of the "categorical imperative." Kant's ideal of autonomy is nothing less than the greatest possible freedom of each human being to set his or her own ends compatible with the equal freedom of every other human being to do the same. As Kant put it in lectures to his own students, freedom "not restrained under certain rules . . . is the most terrible thing there could ever be," but the condition "under which alone the greatest use of freedom is possible, and under which it can be self-consistent" is the "essential end of humankind" and the "inner worth of the world." Kant's work immediately drew the attention of both critics and supporters. While some argued that Kant's categorical imperative was an "empty formalism," that he left no room for happiness in his morality, that he could not explain responsibility for evil, and that he allowed no room for moral feeling in morally worthy motivation, others have found inspiration in his underlying idea that maximal but equal freedom is the "inner worth of the world." This book examines the response to Kant by other significant moral philosophers from Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel to through T.H. Green, Josiah Royce, and Friedrich Nietzsche, to John Rawls, Onora O'Neill, Christine Korsgaard, and Derek Parfit, with many stops along the way. The book is not a history of Kant scholarship, but an examination of Kant's impact on other major moral philosophers from his time to our own. While it attempts to do justice to the arguments of every philosopher discussed, the book argues that the most profound responses to Kant have been precisely those that have developed in their own way Kant's ideal of freedom as the inner worth of the world.
Download or read book Kantian and Sidgwickian Ethics written by Tyler Paytas and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-06-10 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Immanuel Kant and Henry Sidgwick are towering figures in the history of moral philosophy. Kant’s views on ethics continue to be discussed and studied in detail not only in philosophy, but also theology, political science, and legal theory. Meanwhile, Sidgwick is emerging as the philosopher within the utilitarian tradition who merits the same meticulous treatment that Kant receives. As champions of deontology and consequentialism respectively, Kant and Sidgwick disagree on many important issues. However, close examination reveals a surprising amount of consensus on various topics including moral psychology, moral epistemology, and moral theology. This book presents points of agreement and disagreement in the writings of these two giants of philosophical ethics. The chapters will stimulate discussions among moral theorists and historians of philosophy by applying cutting-edge scholarship on each philosopher to shed light on some of the more perplexing arguments and views of the other, and by uncovering and examining points of agreement between Sidgwick and Kant as possible grounds for greater convergence in contemporary moral philosophy. This is the first full-length volume to investigate Sidgwick and Kant side by side. It will be of major interest to researchers and advanced students working in moral philosophy and its history.
Download or read book Consequentialism written by Julia Driver and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2011-11-16 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Consequentialism is the view that the rightness or wrongness of actions depend solely on their consequences. It is one of the most influential, and controversial, of all ethical theories. In this book, Julia Driver introduces and critically assesses consequentialism in all its forms. After a brief historical introduction to the problem, Driver examines utilitarianism, and the arguments of its most famous exponents, John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham, and explains the fundamental questions underlying utilitarian theory: what value is to be specified and how it is to be maximized. Driver also discusses indirect forms of consequentialism, the important theories of motive consequentialism and virtue consequentialism, and explains why the distinction between subjective and objective consequentialism is so important. Including helpful features such as a glossary, chapter summaries, and annotated further reading at the end of each chapter, Consequentialism is ideal for students seeking an authoritative and clearly explained survey of this important problem.
Download or read book Kant s Search for the Supreme Principle of Morality written by Samuel J. Kerstein and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002-05-02 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the core of Kant's ethics lies the claim that if there is a supreme principle of morality then it cannot be a principle based on utilitarianism or Aristotelian perfectionism or the Ten Commandments. The only viable candidate for such a principle is the categorical imperative. This book is the most detailed investigation of this claim. It constructs a new, criterial reading of Kant's derivation of one version of the categorical imperative: the Formula of Universal Law. This reading shows this derivation to be far more compelling than contemporary philosophers tend to believe. It also reveals a novel approach to deriving another version of the categorical imperative, the Formula of Humanity, a principle widely considered to be the most attractive Kantian candidate for the supreme principle of morality. This book will be important not just for Kant scholars but for a broad swathe of students of philosophy.
Download or read book Ethics Volume 23 written by John Hawthorne and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2010-01-26 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philosophical Perspectives, an annual, aims to publish original essays by foremost thinkers in their fields, with each volume confined to a main area of philosophical research. Contains original essays in the subject from foremost ethicists John Hawthorne is widely accepted as one of the leading Philosophers of today
