In contemporary philosophy, substantive moral theories are typically classified as either consequentialist or deontological. Standard consequentialist theories insist, roughly, that agents must always act so as to produce the best available outcomes overall. Standard deontological theories, by contrast, maintain that there are some circumstances where one is permitted but not required to produce the best overall results, and still other circumstances in which one is positively forbidden to do so. Classical utilitarianism is the most familiar consequentialist view, but it is widely regarded as an inadequate account of morality. Although Professor Scheffler agrees with this assessment, he also believes that consequentialism seems initially plausible, and that there is a persistent air of paradox surrounding typical deontological views. In this book, therefore, he undertakes to reconsider the rejection of consequentialism. He argues that it is possible to provide a rationale for the view that agents need not always produce the best possible overall outcomes, and this motivates one departure from consequentialism; but he shows that it is surprisingly difficult to provide a satisfactory rationale for the view that there are times when agents must not produce the best possible overall outcomes. He goes on to argue for a hitherto neglected type of moral conception, according to which agents are always permitted, but not always required, to produce the best outcomes.
Reviews
From the reviews of the first edition:
an intelligent, substantive, and challenging book ... Scheffler's ... discussion of the problems of consequentialism is superior to any I have read * Philosophical Review *
`The Rejection of Consequentialism is a carefully argued, provocative book; it is a significant contribution to the perennial debate of the fundamental moral questions; its scary insight, by implication, into the state of contemporary culture should be taken as an urgent challenge to philosophy.' * International Philosophical Quarterly *
`an essay in moral theory at the deepest level ... which should be taken seriously by all moral philosophers' * Dialogue *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198235118
Author Samuel Scheffler
Format Paperback
Page Count 206
Imprint Clarendon Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 137mm * 12mm