Common threads · 6 books
Compare consequences, duty, virtue, and reasonable rejection, then ask whether a single moral theory can do all the work.
Books, curator notes, and what to read next.
James Rachels
Compare the main ethical theories through concrete disagreements about duty, consequences, and character.
Next: Utilitarianism
John Stuart Mill
Study Mill's account of happiness, then his replies to objections about dignity, justice, and demanding duties.
Next: Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
Immanuel Kant
Work through the formulations of the categorical imperative. Test the difference between duty and a favorable outcome.
Next: After Virtue
Alasdair C. MacIntyre
MacIntyre links virtues to practices and traditions. Ask whether moral disagreement needs a shared account of a good life.
Next: What We Owe to Each Other
T. M. Scanlon
Scanlon grounds wrongness in principles others could reasonably reject. Try the test with a case involving unequal burdens.
Next: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy
Bernard Williams
Williams questions what moral theory can capture. Watch where history, character, and practical judgment resist a formula.
Also includes The Elements of Moral Philosophy
A first philosophy course in six books: knowledge, mind, morality, justice, and the possibility of changing how you live.
Also includes Utilitarianism
Pleasure, dignity, luck, and flourishing. Test the idea that a good life is simply a life with more happiness in it.
Also includes Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
A demanding author study: what can we know, what should we do, and what may we hope? Begin with the shorter guides before taking on the three Critiques.
