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How to Make Good Decisions and be Right All the Time: Solving the Riddle of Right and Wrong | 
| Author: Iain King
Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Category: Book
List Price: £14.99
Buy New: £10.49
You Save: £4.50 (30%)
New (19) Used (2) from £7.75
Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 241226
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 1847063470
Dewey Decimal Number: 170.44
EAN: 9781847063472
ASIN: 1847063470
Publication Date: October 16, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
Either Amazing or Very Good November 13, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
EITHER this is the most important philosophy book for 87 years (since the Tractatus), OR it is just a very good general introduction to ethics. Chances are it is the second, but my philosophy department and me cannot yet see why. It is a new book and we are going to read it again! It is not above criticism: it is too dismissive of Kant and William James, it gives and old fashioned line on determinism, and sometimes it should explain new ideas more fully, in languages for experts (who will need some convincing) rather than in populist simplifications. But it is extremely important because it (either will or might), like the Tractatus, change the way we think about a whole field of philosophy. In beautifully clear language, it sets out the main problems of moral philosophy. That alone would make it a good general introduction to ethics. But it then actually solves many outstanding problems with great originality and brings together what's left (deontology, virtue ethics and consequentialism) into a new single theory of moral philosophy. There is lots of original stuff in here on meta ethics: on proofs of utilitarianism, GE Moore's Open Question argument, the fact-value gap problem, the forward-looking bias of consequentialism, the racist preferences problem (although the answer here may not be original) and the uncertain consequences problem of consequentialism (and probably more). With answers to these that all fit together, the book sets out a comprehensive system of ethics which can answer almost any ethical problem, from lies/promises to distributive justice to the Trolley problem to romantic problems. It gives answers to Williams on integrity, Rawls on maximin, the limitlessness of trying to tackle poverty and several others all within the same theory. (It does not deal with potential people, so the book does not cover bio-ethics or population control, but just about everything else may answered by this book.) Until/unless people find a big mistake in it, moral philosophy looks like it has been solved. Watch out for future reviews which may find a flaw in this book. Even if one is found, it should be required reading for all undergraduates in philosophy, and anybody thinking of studying it. Also perfect for non-philosophers who want to understand ethics.
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