Free standard shipping on all orders
  • Visa
  • Master Card
  • American Express
  • Apple Pay
  • Google Pay
  • JCB

The Dual Force of Welfare: Unravelling Personal and Impersonal Views in Ethics book cover

1st Edition

The Dual Force of Welfare Unravelling Personal and Impersonal Views in Ethics

By Jonas Harney Copyright 2027
392 Pages 22 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book explores the moral significance of welfare by dissecting a dichotomy central to moral theory and welfare ethics: the distinction between personal and impersonal views. It systematically examines this distinction, revealing its ambiguities and implications for moral judgments in general and issues of population ethics and interpersonal welfare trade-offs in particular. The book argues... Read more

1. Introduction  Part 1: Disambiguating the Personal-Impersonal Distinction  2. The Ambiguity of the Personal-Impersonal Distinction  3. Distinguishing Personal and Impersonal Views in Welfare Ethics  Part 2: Discussing the Various Personal-Impersonal Distinctions  4. The Ground of the Moral Value of Welfare  5. Types of Personal Value I: Existence-Comparativism  6. Types of Personal Value II: The Personal Absolute Type  7. Types of Personal Value III: The Intrapersonal Comparative Type  8. Types of Personal Value IV: The Interpersonal Comparative Type  9. Moral Aggregation  10. Interpersonal Welfare Trade-offs  Part 3: Developing a Dual Theory of Outcome Comparisons  11. A Dual Theory for Two-Outcome Comparisons  12. Essential Comparativeness and Non-Transitivity  13. Refining the Comparative View
14. A Dual Theory for Multiple-Outcome Comparisons  15. Loose Ends and Further Thoughts  16. Conclusion

Biography

Jonas Harney is Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. His research focuses on moral and decision theory, particularly welfare ethics, aggregation, population ethics, essentially comparative views, and dynamic decisions. His published work has appeared in Analysis, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, The Journal of Ethics, Philosophy & Public Affairs, and Utilitas.

“The list of acute observations about the different roles welfare plays in ethics is impressive, and the philosophical writing exemplary in style, analytic thoroughness, and substance. This book is a prodigious piece of philosophy which I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who works on the moral importance of welfare. 

Krister Bykvist, Professor in Practical Philosophy, Stockholm University 

Add to Cart