Ideal Code, Real World a Rule-Consequentialist Theory of Morality

By Brad Hooker

Book Overview

What are the appropriate criteria for assessing a theory of morality? In this enlightening work, Brad Hooker begins by answering this question. He then argues for a rule-consequentialist theory which, in part, asserts that acts should be assessed morally in terms of impartially justified rules. In the end, he considers the implications of rule-consequentialism for several current controversies in practical ethics, making this clearly written, engaging book the best overall statement of this approach to ethics.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0199256578
• ISBN13: 9780199256570
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Length: 230 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Sophisticated and Accessible Moral Philosophy

This original and important work of contemporary moral philosophy develops a sophisticated version of rule-consequentialism: the view, roughly speaking, that we should act according to the set of rules that, if internalized by most people, would be expected to lead to the best consequences. The argument is rigorous and nuanced, while being accessible and interesting to the general reader. To take one example, Hooker offers a thought-provoking discussion of how much members of affluent western societies are morally required to do to help the needy. Anyone interested in how academic philosophy addresses central issues of how one should live could not do better than this clearly written, powerfully argued, thoughtful book.