Is common-sense morality self-defeating?

Journal of Philosophy 76 (10):533-545 (1979)
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Abstract

When is a moral theory self-defeating? I suggest the following. There are certain things we ought to try to achieve. Call these our moral aims. Our moral theory would be self-defeating if we believed we ought to do what will cause our moral aims to be worse achieved. Is this ever true? If so, what does it show?

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0022362X

DOI

10.2307/2025548

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reprint Parfit, Derek (1988) "Is common-sense morality self-defeating?". In Scheffler, Samuel, Consequentialism and its critics, pp. : Oxford University Press (1988)

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Derek Parfit
Last affiliation: Oxford University

Citations of this work

For utilitarianism.Jean-Paul Vessel - 2010 - American Philosophical Quarterly 47 (4).

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