Utilitarianism (Problems of Philosophy) by Geoffrey Scarre

by Geoffrey Scarre

Excellent Book

Genres: Philosophy

Paperback

First published October 7, 1995

About the author

Geoffrey Scarre is a moral philosopher and professor of philosophy at the University of Durham.

His most important work has been on the topics of evil and the Holocaust, and the ethics of archaeology. He has also written on Utilitarianism and John Stuart Mill.

Reviews

[Jim Cook]

I just finished reading this outstanding introduction to the moral/political theory of utilitarianism by Scarre. It outlines the views of most of the classical figures in the movement as well as many contemporary utilitarians. A utilitarian promotes actions that maximize happiness and well-being for the greatest number in a population, ie, actions are good only to the extent they maximize total happiness and/or minimize suffering. While there are many variants of this approach all tend to be consequentialist, welfarist, aggregative, and maximizing.

Scarre includes an interesting chapter on several historical figures he argues were precursors of utilitarian philosophy (the term “utilitarian” was first coined by the British thinker Jeremy Bentham in the early 1700’s). These pro-utilitarians include: the Chinese philosopher Mo Tzu (who lived around the same time as Socrates in Greece), Aristotle, Epicurus, and Jesus.

The bulk of the book focuses on the analysis of some of the key figures is utilitarian theory such as Godwin, Bentham, JS Mill, Sidgwick, and one fellow I was unfamiliar with, Hastings Rushdall, someone I will need to read.

The last two chapters are the most interesting to me as it is here that Scarre outlines his own approach to this view of ethics. I think this was a really good book and recommend it to you if you want to learn more about this sometimes difficult and morally demanding philosophy.

[Michelle Sandford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good book, easy to read, fun, impactful - it uses really clear examples to get you to understand the crux of each dilemma. If you are a fan of Netflix's The Good Place - in particular the episode on the Trolley Problem - you will love this book!

[Kramer Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of utilitarianism. I already knew a lot of this so it wasn't that exciting for me to read, but I still learned a bit about utilitarianism's intellectual history. Worthwhile reading.