An elaborately extended analysis of what Singer believes to be the basic form of moral argument: If everyone did that, the consequences would be undesirable, therefore you ought not to do that. This argument in conjunction with several principles of a modified utilitarianism are interpreted as grounding rational morality. The place of reason in ethics, classical utilitarianism, the distinction between moral rules, laws, and principles, and the distinction between prudence and morality are discussed in detail. The general argument of the (...) book is rather complicated and at times the transitions seem weak.--E. R. G. (shrink)

Hall's final statement of his "intentionalistic empiricism" in epistemology and ethics. He takes emotional experience to be basic; perceptions are only an abstracted portion of this experience. Truth as a property of empirical propositions, and legitimacy as a property of value propositions, are interpreted as unanalyzable relations between propositions and facts or values. The test of truth and legitimacy is coherence. The examples of emotionally expressive language found throughout the second half of this work show sensitivity to the variety in (...) such a language.--E. R. G. (shrink)