Ideal Code, Real World

by Brad Hooker

What are the appropriate criteria for assessing a theory of morality? In this enlightening work, Brad Hooker begins by answering this question. He then argues for a rule-consequentialist theory which, in part, asserts that acts should be assessed morally in terms of impartially justified rules. In the end, he considers the implications of rule-consequentialism for several current controversies in practical ethics, making this clearly written, engaging book the best overall statement of this approach to ethics.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

230 pages, Paperback

First published January 11, 2000

Reviews

[saml · Rating 2 out of 5]

read this because i heard someone describe the relation between epistemic and prudential normativity as akin to rule consequentialism. and i've always thought that rule consequentialism didn't make any sense. so i thought this would be useful to check. it wasn't: as far as i can tell, hooker defends rule consequentialism on its intuitiveness, which robs us of some torturous derivation from act utilitarianism. and so epistemic normativity is in the lurch. oh well. anyway, this book is pretty good. i've always had basically consequentialist instincts (kant's ethics are much too interesting to be ethics), so i suspect something like this is probably true. but it had that classic introduction to ethics vibe which made it hard to enjoy

[Caleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hooker offers a compelling restatement of rule-utilitarianism, providing plausible answers to many common objections.

[Ruth Vanderford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written. Not my favorite ethical theory, but he presents it well.

[Joshua Nomen-Mutatio]

Renowned philosopher Derek Parfit described this book as the "best statement and defence, so far, of one of the most important moral theories." The single review on amazon.com for this title also gave a positive endorsement that I found personally encouraging.