An Introduction to Utilitarianism: From Theory to Practice
By (Author) Richard Chappell
By (author) Darius Meissner
By (author) William MacAskill
Hackett Publishing Co, Inc
Hackett Publishing Co, Inc
1st March 2025
United States
Tertiary Education
Non Fiction
Ethics and moral philosophy
Philosophy
144.6
Paperback
264
Width 152mm, Height 228mm
357g
An Introduction to Utilitarianism: From Theory to Practice is a state-of-the-art text, simultaneously accessible to introductory students and informative for more advanced readers. Two key features set it apart. First, its comprehensive coverage of the arguments for and against utilitarianism is unparalleled. Second, it takes seriously the practical implications of utilitarianism for how we should live, with a particular emphasison utilitarianism's impartial beneficenceand its focus on effectiveness. Guided by the conviction that practical ethics is more about how best to use our limited time and resources than which victims to hit with trolleys in thought experiments, its practical upshots should prove amenable to utilitarians and non-utilitarians alike.
Richard Yetter Chappell(University of Miami) authored Parfit's Ethics.
Darius Meissner has an M.A. in Security Studies from Georgetown University and a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Oxford.
William MacAskill (University of Oxford) authored Doing Good Betterand What We Owe The Future,and co-authored Moral Uncertainty. Will helped to start the effective altruism movement, which seeks to use evidence and reason to maximize the effectiveness of time and money devoted to helping others. He cofounded Giving What We Can, 80,000 Hours, The Centre for Effective Altruismand the Global Priorities Institute.