Utilitarianism

Professor J. J. C. Smart is Emeritus at the Australian National University. He is the author of numerous books, including "Philosophy and Scientific Realism," "Ethics, Persuasion, and Truth," and "Utilitarianism: For and Against" (with Bernard Williams). J. J. Haldane is a philosopher and the director of the Centre for Ethics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs at the University of St Andrews.

Bernard Williams is a Deutsch Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, and an All Souls College Fellow at Oxford. Problems of the Self (Cambridge University Press, 1973), Moral Luck (Cambridge University Press, 1981), Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy (Harvard University Press, 1986), Shame and Necessity (University of California Press, 1993), and Making Sense of Humanity (University of California Press, 1993) are among his many publications (Cambridge University Press, 1995).

J. J. C. Smart and Bernard Williams wrote two essays on utilitarianism from opposing perspectives. Professor Smart advocates a modern and sophisticated version of classical utilitarianism in the first part of the book; he attempts to formulate a consistent and persuasive elaboration of the doctrine that the rightness and wrongness of actions is determined solely by their consequences, particularly their consequences for the sum total of human happiness. Bernard Williams provides a sustained and vigorous critique of utilitarian assumptions, arguments, and ideals in Part II. He considers utilitarianism's implied theory of action insufficient, arguing that it fails to engage seriously with the real problems of moral and political philosophy, and fails to make sense of concepts such as integrity, or even human happiness itself. Welfare economists, political scientists, and decision-theorists should all find this book interesting. Utilitarianism is among the best books on ethics.

Author: Bernard Williams and J. J. C. Smart

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