Equal Freedom and Utility: Herbert Spencer's Liberal Utilitarianism

by David Weinstein

Overview

This rich and provocative study is the first to examine Herbert Spencer's critical role in the development of liberal utilitarian moral and political philosophy in the nineteenth century, as well as the success of his version of it. While several scholars correctly see Mill as a founder of liberal utilitarianism, none have appreciated Spencer's equally important formative role. Weinstein reinterprets Spencer's version of liberal utilitarianism and illustrates that his moral and political thought exhibits greater systematic integrity than received views of his thought acknowledge.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521026864
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/02/2006
Series:	Ideas in Context , #49
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.71(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Note on the text; Introduction; 1. Social evolution; 2. Social evolution and the moral psychology of equal freedom; 3. Equal freedom and moral rights; 4. Moral rights and utility; 5. The logical coherence of Spencer's liberal utilitarianism; 6. Spencer's ethical reasoning; 7. Land nationalization and property; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...informative, helpful, and scholarly..." Ethics

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