A Theory of the Good and the Right

by Richard B. Brandt

Developing the concept of a moral code and defining "Morally right" actions by rational persons, this book discusses important traditional philosophical inquiries about what is good and right through analyses of contemporary psychological theories of action and motivation.

Genres: Philosophy

376 pages, Paperback

First published August 2, 1979

Reviews

[Noah Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Dissertation book)
How far can facts and logic get us in defining "rationality" and "morality"? That's the question, and Brandt's answer is: Pretty Far. This is one of the more important (and better) attempts at utilitarianism from its era. Very British academic. It leans heavy on psychology, but the psychology feels a little dated now. Not just in not being "cutting edge" anymore, but it often feels pretty reductive, like behaviorism or at least functionalism. E.g., a "desire" isn't defined as a felt experience, but a tendency to act in such-and-such a way. Besides that, I think a lot of what Brandt has to say about rationality is helpful. He defines a minimally rational *action* as an action fully informed by relevant facts and logic, with the motivating desire left as they are. Then, he defines a rational *desire* as a desire fully shaped by relevant facts and logic, especially, a desire that would not be eliminated by "cognitive psychotherapy." Then, a maximally rational action is one that is both minimally rational and also motivated by rational desire. Finally, morality is basically the moral code that a person who is rational in this sense would choose to live in.
It sorta makes sense to me. My main critical response is to emphasize that which desires survive psychotherapy is not at all some objective scientific question. It depends on who your therapist is and the function of psychotherapy. I think Brandt would agree, but I'm not sure; he does seem set on trying to make ethics into a kind of science, not a domain of pure confusion and controversy.
This is tough stuff at a pretty high level of abstraction, but I think it matters a lot.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an expansion of the John Locke lectures presented by Brandt at Oxford University in 1974, themselves based on "Moral Philosophy & the Analysis of Language." I read it for an Ethics Survey course taught by David Ozar at Loyola University Chicago during the first semester of 1980/81. The major ethical systems treated in that course were virtue ethics (the Greeks, Nietzsche), deontology (Kant, Rawls), natural law ethics (Aquinas) and utilitarianism (Bentham, Mill). Simple hedonic utilitarianism leading to problems, Brandt was brought in as an exponent of a rule utilitarianism intended to avoid them. Similar work is performed more concretely by John Rawls in his 'Theory of Justice'.