Rights, Welfare, and Mill's Moral Theory / Edition 1

by David Lyons

Overview

This volume collects David Lyons' well-known essays on Mill's moral theory and includes an introduction which relates the essays to prior and subsequent philosophical developments. Like the author's Forms and Limits of Utilitarianism (Oxford, 1965), the essays apply analytical methods to issues in normative ethics. The first essay defends a refined version of the beneficiary theory of rights against H.L.A. Hart's important criticisms. The central set of essays develops new interpretations of Mill's moral theory with the aim of determining how far rights can be incorporated in a utilitarian framework. They Mill's analysis of moral concepts promises to accommodate the argumentative force of rights, and also provide a significant new reading of Mill's theory of liberty. The last essay argues that the promise of Mill's theory of justice cannot be fulfilled. Utilitarianism is unable to account for crucial features of moral rights, or even for the moral force of legal rights whose existence might be justified on utilitarian grounds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195082180
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/04/1994
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 5.47(h) x 0.55(d)

About the Author

Cornell University

Editorial Reviews

"Not just a collection of vaguely related essays, this book can and should be read as offering a unified account of rights within the context of utilitarianism....Accessible to undergraduates, and will be very useful to graduate students or faculty members doing research either in Mill or in utilitarianism and the issue of rights."—Choice

"It is good to have these thoughtful and persuasive essays collected in one place."—Ethics

From the Publisher