Utilitarianism: Volume 26, Part 1: The Aggregation Question
Utilitarianism and other aggregationist moral theories view the public interest or the general welfare as an aggregate of individual goods. But critics of these theories question whether there is adequate justification for employing the concept of an aggregate social good. How are we supposed to sum up individual interests? Is it even possible to compare the utilities of different people or to assign values to individual utilities that can be added or subtracted? If not, how is the general good to be aggregated? Critics have also raised concerns about the aggregative approach in ethics—concerns about its implications for distributive justice, individual liberty, and democratic institutions. The essays in this volume explore these issues and address related questions. Some of them examine specific objections to aggregation, others analyze the very idea of a social good or social welfare. Other essays discuss the application of aggregative principles to particular problems.
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Utilitarianism: Volume 26, Part 1: The Aggregation Question
Utilitarianism and other aggregationist moral theories view the public interest or the general welfare as an aggregate of individual goods. But critics of these theories question whether there is adequate justification for employing the concept of an aggregate social good. How are we supposed to sum up individual interests? Is it even possible to compare the utilities of different people or to assign values to individual utilities that can be added or subtracted? If not, how is the general good to be aggregated? Critics have also raised concerns about the aggregative approach in ethics—concerns about its implications for distributive justice, individual liberty, and democratic institutions. The essays in this volume explore these issues and address related questions. Some of them examine specific objections to aggregation, others analyze the very idea of a social good or social welfare. Other essays discuss the application of aggregative principles to particular problems.
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Utilitarianism: Volume 26, Part 1: The Aggregation Question

Utilitarianism: Volume 26, Part 1: The Aggregation Question

Utilitarianism: Volume 26, Part 1: The Aggregation Question
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Utilitarianism: Volume 26, Part 1: The Aggregation Question

Utilitarianism: Volume 26, Part 1: The Aggregation Question

Overview

Utilitarianism and other aggregationist moral theories view the public interest or the general welfare as an aggregate of individual goods. But critics of these theories question whether there is adequate justification for employing the concept of an aggregate social good. How are we supposed to sum up individual interests? Is it even possible to compare the utilities of different people or to assign values to individual utilities that can be added or subtracted? If not, how is the general good to be aggregated? Critics have also raised concerns about the aggregative approach in ethics—concerns about its implications for distributive justice, individual liberty, and democratic institutions. The essays in this volume explore these issues and address related questions. Some of them examine specific objections to aggregation, others analyze the very idea of a social good or social welfare. Other essays discuss the application of aggregative principles to particular problems.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780521756327
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication date: 09/27/2010
Series: Social Philosophy and Policy
Edition description: Reissue
Pages: 404
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction vii

Acknowledgments xvi

Contributors xvii

Aggregation within Lives Larry S. Temkin 1

Utilitarian Aggregation Russell Hardin 30

When, if Ever, do We Aggregate? And Why? Jan Narveson 48

Two Dogmas of Deontology: Aggregation, Rights, and the Separateness of Persons Alastair Norcross 76

Is Welfare an Independent Good? Talbot Brewer 96

Up and Down with Aggregation Brad Hooker 126

Aggregation, Allocating Scarce Resources, and the Disabled F. M. Kamm 148

Majorities Against Utility: Implications of the Failure of the Miracle of Aggregation Bryan Caplan 198

What Is It Like to Be a Group? David Sosa 212

Contractarianism and Interspecies Welfare Conflicts Andrew I. Cohen 227

On the Possibility of Nonaggregative Priority for the Worst Off Marc Fleurbaey Bertil Tungodden Peter Vallentyne 258

The Interpretation of Maximizing Utilitarianism Jonathan Riley 286

Liberty, the Higher Pleasures, and Mill's Missing Science of Ethnic Jokes Elijah Millgram 326

Benefits, Holism, and the Aggregation of Value David McNaughton Piers Rawling 354

Index 375

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