Beyond Consequentialism

Paul Hurley sets out a radical challenge to consequentialism, the theory which might seem to be the default option in contemporary moral philosophy. There is an unresolved tension within the theory: if consequentialists are right about the content of morality, then morality cannot have the rational authority that even they take it to have.

1: Introduction; 2: The Challenge to Consequentialism: A Troubling Normative Triad; 3: The Demandingness Objection: Too Demanding, Or Not Demanding at All?; 4: Harnessing Williams to Sharpen the Challenge to Consequentialism; 5: Deflating the Challenge iof Consequentialism; 6: From Impersonality to Interpersonality: Alternative Conceptions of Impartiality; 7: Impartial Evaluation and Rational Authority; 8: Generalizing to Other Forms of Consequentialism; Bibliography