Moral Demands in Nonideal Theory

by Liam B. Murphy

Is there a limit to the legitimate demands of morality? In particular, is there a limit to people's responsibility to promote the well-being of others, either directly or via social institutions? Utilitarianism admits no such limit, and is for that reason often said to be an unacceptably demanding moral and political view. In this original new study, Murphy argues that the charge of excessive demands amounts to little more than an affirmation of the status quo. The real problem with utilitarianism is that it makes unfair demands on people who comply with it in our world of nonideal compliance. Murphy shows that this unfairness does not arise on a collective understanding of our responsibility for others' well being. Thus, according to Murphy, while there is no general problem to be raised about the extent of moral demands, there is a pressing need to acknowledge the collective nature of the demands of beneficence.

Genres: Philosophy

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1900

Reviews

[Kramer Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a reasonable examination of a few different problems in contemporary ethics. Murphy's analysis of the overdemandingness objection to act-utilitarianism was quite thorough and enjoyable, although his solution to overdemandingness based upon his compliance condition ultimately fails because it is too vulnerable to extrinsic and irrelevant externalities, as demonstrated by Mulgan in his book The Demands of Consequentialism. Overall, Murphy's book was a fairly enjoyable read, although I found significant parts of it hard to follow, largely (I think) due to Murphy's writing style (but I think this was just due to a lack of personal preference).