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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2009

Julia Driver
Affiliation:
Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
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Summary

Over the past few decades, criticism of Utilitarianism, and consequentialism more generally, has become increasingly fashionable. Currently popular is the view that the moral quality of our lives is best captured by alternative theories such as virtue ethics or Kantian ethics. These views are considered superior in that they avoid classic problems of Utilitarianism: they are not as demanding of moral agents, and they do not necessarily advocate an impersonal standard for determining right action. Further, each of these theories locates what is morally important or significant as being within the agent or agency, whereas consequentialist theories are typically viewed as locating these factors externally, in the form of consequences. Thus, while a Kantian maintains that the moral worth of a person's action is determined by conscious adherence to the Categorical Imperative, the Utilitarian holds that the rightness of the action is determined by its consequences. This feature of Utilitarianism is seen as a weakness since it is taken to ‘alienate’ the agent from morality and, further, render the agent hostage to the forces of moral luck. This book, however, will seek to defend consequentialism from the encroachment of virtue ethics in both its Aristotelian and Kantian forms by, first, pointing out serious internal deficiencies with Aristotelian virtue ethics; second, illustrating some of the limitations and the very narrow scope of virtue within the Kantian system; and, third, showing that consequentialism can well accommodate virtue evaluation. These three themes will be the central themes of the book.

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Uneasy Virtue , pp. xiii - xxii
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2001

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  • Introduction
  • Julia Driver, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
  • Book: Uneasy Virtue
  • Online publication: 22 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511498770.001
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  • Introduction
  • Julia Driver, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
  • Book: Uneasy Virtue
  • Online publication: 22 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511498770.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Julia Driver, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
  • Book: Uneasy Virtue
  • Online publication: 22 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511498770.001
Available formats
×