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Doing the Best We Can

An Essay in Informal Deontic Logic

  • Book
  • © 1986

Overview

Authors:
  1. Fred Feldman

    1. Department of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA

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Part of the book series: Philosophical Studies Series (PSSP, volume 35)

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
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  2. Absolute Moral Obligation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. Utilitarian Foundations

      • Fred Feldman
      Pages 3-15

    3. A Theory of Moral Obligation

      • Fred Feldman
      Pages 16-44

    4. Moral Objections to MO

      • Fred Feldman
      Pages 45-69

  3. Iffy Oughts

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 71-71
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    2. Basic Iffy Oughts

      • Fred Feldman
      Pages 73-98

    3. Hypothetical Imperatives

      • Fred Feldman
      Pages 99-126

    4. Defeasible Commitment and Prima Facie Obligation

      • Fred Feldman
      Pages 127-144

  4. Extensions

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 145-145
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    2. Individual Obligation and Group Welfare

      • Fred Feldman
      Pages 147-178

    3. What Ought to be

      • Fred Feldman
      Pages 179-196

    4. Conflicts of Obligation

      • Fred Feldman
      Pages 197-215

    5. Conclusions

      • Fred Feldman
      Pages 216-225

  5. Back Matter

    Pages 227-246
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Keywords

About this book

Several years ago I came across a marvelous little paper in which Hector-Neri Castaneda shows that standard versions of act utilitarian­ l ism are formally incoherent. I was intrigued by his argument. It had long seemed to me that I had a firm grasp on act utilitarianism. Indeed, it had often seemed to me that it was the clearest and most attractive of normative theories. Yet here was a simple and relatively uncontrover­ sial argument that showed, with only some trivial assumptions, that the doctrine is virtually unintelligible. The gist of Castaneda's argument is this: suppose we understand act utilitarianism to be the view that an act is obligatory if and only if its utility exceeds that of each alternative. Suppose it is obligatory for a certain person to perform an act with two parts - we can call it 'A & B'. Then, obviously enough, it is also obligatory for this person to perform the parts, A and B. If act utilitarianism were true, we appar­ ently could infer that the utility of A & B is higher than that of A, and higher than that of B (because A & B is obligatory, and the other acts are alternatives to A & B).

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA

    Fred Feldman

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Doing the Best We Can

  • Book Subtitle: An Essay in Informal Deontic Logic

  • Authors: Fred Feldman

  • Series Title: Philosophical Studies Series

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4570-8

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland 1986

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-90-277-2164-8Published: 30 April 1986

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-010-8531-1Published: 27 September 2011

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-009-4570-8Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 0921-8599

  • Series E-ISSN: 2542-8349

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIV, 246

  • Topics: Ethics

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