What is the integrity objection to utilitarianism? How telling is it?
Key readings
- Mill, J. S., Utilitarianism, London: Parker, Son & Bourn, 1863, chs. 1-4.
- Bykvist, K., Utilitarianism: a Guide for the Perplexed, London: Continuum, 2009, ch. 5.
- Cox, Damian, Marguerite La Caze & Michael Levine, Integrity, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Fall, 2013.
- Crisp, R., Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Mill on Utilitarianism, London: Routledge, 1997, ch. 6.
- Railton, P., Alienation, Consequentialism, and the Demands of Morality, Philosophy & Public Affairs, vol. 13, no. 2 (Spring, 1984), pp. 134-171.
- Smart, J. J. C. & B. Williams, Utilitarianism, For and Against, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973, pp. 93-118.
Further reading
- Carr, S., The Integrity of a Utilitarian, Ethics, vol. 86, no. 3 (April, 1976), pp. 241-246.
- Conly, S., Utilitarianism and Integrity, The Monist, vol. 66, no. 2 (April, 1983), pp. 298-311.
- Glover, J., Causing Death and Saving Lives, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1990, ch. 5.
- Harris, G. W., Integrity and Agent Centered Restrictions, Noûs, vol. 23, no. 4 (September, 1989), pp. 437-456.
- Harris, J., Williams on Negative Responsibility and Integrity, The Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 24, no. 96 (July, 1974), pp. 265-273.
- Herman, B., Integrity and Impartiality, The Monist, vol. 66, no. 2 (April, 1983), pp. 233-250.
- Williams, B., Moral Luck: Philosophical Papers, 1973-1980, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981, ch. 3.
- Is it a problem for utilitarianism that it sometimes tells you to act against your deepest ethical convictions?
- Can a utilitarian accommodate the notion of moral integrity?
- Does Utilitarianism threaten the “integrity” of agents any more than its alternatives?
- Is there a tension between impartiality and integrity? If so, can this tension be relieved?