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Is Act‐Utilitarianism the ‘Ethics of Fantasy’?
Author(s) -
Scarre Geoffrey
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of applied philosophy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.339
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1468-5930
pISSN - 0264-3758
DOI - 10.1111/1468-5930.00096
Subject(s) - utilitarianism , doctrine , morality , philosophy , fantasy , environmental ethics , epistemology , sociology , literature , theology , art
Act‐utilitarianism is often criticised as an unreasonably demanding moral philosophy that commits agents to a life of ceaseless and depersonalizing do‐gooding. In this essay I argue in Sidgwickian vein that the strenuousness of act‐utilitarianism has been greatly exaggerated, and that the practical demands of the doctrine in the contemporary world are closer to those of common‐sense morality than such critics as Derek Parfit and Brad Hooker allow.