Utilitarianism, Supererogation and Future Generations

Canadian Journal of Philosophy 9 (3):461 - 466 (1979)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

I shall argue here that the reason supererogatory acts are not obligatory is that they require too much personal sacrifice, and that in order for an act to be supererogatory, it must have a kind of result that you would have an obligation to bring about if you could do so with no personal sacrifice. I further argue that traditional utilitarianism should be modified so as not to treat supererogatory acts as obligatory.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 92,574

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Supererogation.Douglas W. Portmore - 2013 - In J. E. Crimmins & D. C. Long (eds.), Encyclopedia of Utilitarianism. Bloomsbury Academic.
Supererogation for utilitarianism.Jean-Paul Vessel - 2010 - American Philosophical Quarterly 47 (4):299 - 319.
Future Generations and Business Ethics.Ronald Jeurissen & Gerard Keijzers - 2004 - Business Ethics Quarterly 14 (1):47-69.
A note on motivation and future generations.Michael Mackenzie - 1985 - Environmental Ethics 7 (1):63-69.
Obligations to future generations.Richard I. Sikora & Brian Barry (eds.) - 1978 - Cambridge, UK: White Horse Press.
Conservation, foresight, and the future generations problem.Steve Vanderheiden - 2006 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 49 (4):337 – 352.
Markets, Justice, and the Interests of Future Generations.Clark Wolf - 1996 - Ethics and the Environment 1 (2):153 - 175.

Analytics

Added to PP
2011-05-29

Downloads
42 (#382,240)

6 months
8 (#373,162)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

Supererogation, Sacrifice, and the Limits of Duty.Alfred Archer - 2016 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 54 (3):333-354.
Utilitarian Idealism and Personal Relations.Earl R. Winkler - 1982 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 12 (2):265 - 286.
Ethical Theory and Population Problems.Kevin Espen Moon - 2001 - Dissertation, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Add more citations

References found in this work

Add more references