Paul Hurley sets out a radical challenge to consequentialism, the theory which might seem to be the default option in contemporary moral philosophy. There is an unresolved tension within the theory: if consequentialists are right about the content of morality, then morality cannot have the rational authority that even they take it to have.

Paul Hurley is Professor of Philosophy at Claremont McKenna College, California.

• 1: Introduction


• 2: The Challenge to Consequentialism: A Troubling Normative Triad


• 3: The Demandingness Objection: Too Demanding, Or Not Demanding at All?


• 4: Harnessing Williams to Sharpen the Challenge to Consequentialism


• 5: Deflating the Challenge ^iof Consequentialism


• 6: From Impersonality to Interpersonality: Alternative Conceptions of Impartiality


• 7: Impartial Evaluation and Rational Authority


• 8: Generalizing to Other Forms of Consequentialism


• Bibliography