Volume 27, Number 8 · May 15, 1980
Death and Utility
By H.L.A. Hart
Practical Ethics
by Peter Singer
Cambridge University Press, 237 pp., $6.95 (paper)
In Practical Ethics Peter Singer describes his moral position as 'broadly Utilitarian.' Though he mentions, with some skepticism, a theory of rights and Kantian principles of autonomy as providing support for some of his practical conclusions, the main theoretical interest of this book, and also some of its difficulties, lie in the striking combination of two different forms of utilitarianism on which he principally relies. In addition to the merits of many of its arguments his book has the virtues of the best utilitarian manner in moral philosophy. For Singer, as for Bentham and Mill, moral philosophy is primarily a confrontation of problems of current concern and controversy, and a critique of current assumptions and conventional prejudices.
Review, 5154 words
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