Consequentialism: New Directions, New Problems

Consequentialism is a focal point of discussion and a driving force behind important developments in moral philosophy. Recently, the debate has shifted in focus and in style. By seeking to consequentialize rival moral theories, in particular those with agent-relative characteristics, and by framing accounts in terms of reasons rather than in terms of value, an emerging new wave consequentialism has presented - at much higher levels of abstraction - theories which proved extremely flexible and powerful in meeting long-standing and influential objections. This volume of new essays on new wave consequentialism initiates and stimulates novel lines of discussions among proponents and their critics. The contributions explore new directions in new wave consequentialism and present refined conceptual frameworks (in Part I), raise challenging fundamental problems for these frameworks and the new wave's theoretical basis (in Part II), and give a balanced assessment of the new wave's limits and achievements in specific contexts of commonsense moral practice (in Part III). The volume will be of interest to all readers in ethical and moral theory.

Author: Christian Seidel
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 12/31/2018
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.20w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780190270117

Review Citation(s):
Choice 11/01/2019

About the Author
Christian Seidel is Professor of Philosophy at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). His main interests include personal autonomy (the topic of his book Selbst bestimmen. Eine philosophische Untersuchung personaler Autonomie), issues in moral and political philosophy (consequentialism, moralism, distributive justice, egalitarianism, climate ethics, and the ethics of risk) as well as British moral and social philosophy in the 19th century (John Stuart Mill and Henry Sidgwick).