Morality, Rules, and Consequences: A Critical Reader

by Brad Hooker (Editor), Elinor Mason (Editor), Dale E. Miller (Editor)

What determines whether an action is right or wrong? one appealing idea is that a moral code ought to contain a number of rules that tell people how to behave and that are simple and few enough to be easily learned. Another appealing idea is that the consequences of actions matter, often more than anything else. Rule consequentialism tries to weave these two ideas into a general theory of morality. This theory holds that morally wrong actions are the ones forbidden by rules whose acceptance would promote the overall good.

272 pages, Hardcover

First published June 28, 2000