The Oxford Handbook of Normative Ethics

Normative ethics is the study of what makes actions right or wrong, and includes such approaches as consequentialism, traditional deontology (including Kantian theory), virtue theory (including Aristotelian theory), and the ethics of care, a feminist approach. With contributions from over forty philosophers, The Oxford Handbook in Normative Ethics provides an overview of the major issues in contemporary normative ethics. The handbook begins with an introduction that provides an overview of the field and the relationships among the topics addressed in the volume. The chapters in Part I start with basic distinctions, introducing consequentialism, deontology, virtue theory, and value theory. Part II focuses on methodology in normative ethics and epistemological questions. Part III spotlights issues in responsibility and agency. Part IV is dedicated to general problems for normative theories, including particularism, collective action problems, and moral status.

David Copp is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of California, Davis. He is author of Ethical Naturalism and the Problem of Normativity (2025), Morality, Normativity, and Society (1995), and Morality in a Natural World (2007), and he edited The Oxford Handbook of Ethical Theory (2006). He served on the editorial boards of Ethics and the Canadian Journal of Philosophy and as a co-editor of the metaethics section of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. He has published and lectured widely on topics in moral and political philosophy.

Connie Rosati is Roy Allison Vaughan Centennial Professor in Philosophy and Professor of Law at the University of Texas at Austin. She has authored articles in metaethics, ethics, and the philosophy of law, including "Agency and the Open Question Argument," "The Makropulos Case Revisited: Reflections on Immortality and Agency," "Constitutional Realism," and "Welfare and Rational Fit." She has served as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Ethics, Legal Theory, and the metaethics section of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Tina Rulli is a Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of California, Davis. She works in normative ethics, applied ethics, and bioethics, with a focus on population ethics and reproduction. Her papers include "Preferring a Genetically-Related Child," "Conditional Obligations," and "IIA, Rationality, and the Individuation of Options." She is co-Editor-in-Chief at the Journal of Applied Philosophy.

Introduction, David Copp, Connie Rosati, and Tina Rulli

PART I. BASIC DISTINCTIONS
1. Consequentialism, Julia Driver
2. Direct Consequentialism, Unlimited, Philip Pettit
3. Rule-Consequentialism's Essence and Rationale, Brad Hooker
4. Consequentialism: Core and Expansion, Richard Yetter Chappell
5. Welfarism, Dale Dorsey
6. Hedonism, Ben Bradley
7. Desire-Oriented Theories of Welfare, Christoph Fehige and Ulla Wessels
8. Value Fulfillment and the Prudential Good, Jason Raibley and Valerie Tiberius
9. Objective List Theory, Guy Fletcher
10. Perfectionism, Gwen Bradford
11. Rossian Deontology, David Mcnaughton and Piers Rawling
12. Moral Rights, David Schmidtz
13. Kantian Normative Ethics, Thomas E. Hill, Jr.
14. Contractualism, Rahul Kumar
15. The Doing and Allowing Distinction, Christian Barry and Kerah Gordon-Solmon
16. Heroes and Jerks: Morality Beyond Requirement, Elizabeth Harman
17. Leaving (the Concept of) Deontology Behind, S. Andrew Schroeder
18. Against Consequentializing of Normative Theories, Paul Hurley
19. Eudaimonist Virtue Ethics, Julia Annas
20. Non-Eudaimonistic Virtue Ethics, Christine Swanton
21. On Debunking Virtue, Rachana Kamtekar and Shaun Nichols
22. The Ethics of Care as a Normative Ethical Theory, Stephanie Collins
23. Feminist Ethics, Anita M. Superson
24. Normative Relativism, David B. Wong

PART II. METHODOLOGY AND EPISTEMIC ISSUES
25. Theory, Practice, and Moral Reasoning, Gerald Dworkin
26. Reflective Equilibrium, Antti Kauppinen And Jaakko Hirvelä
27. Thought Experiments in Ethics Or: Has the Trolley Problem Gone off the Rails? Natalie Gold
28. Ignorance and Duty: The Objective/Subjective Distinction in Ethics, Amelia Hicks
29. Morality and Epistemic Rationality, Sarah Stroud
30. Evaluative Uncertainty, Joe Horton and Jacob Ross

PART III. RESPONSIBILITY AND AGENCY
31. Responsibility and Control: New Work, John Martin Fischer
32. On Being "Blameless Among One's Contemporaries": Moral Ignorance and Widespread Wrongdoing, Nomy Arpaly
33. Negligence, Recklessness, and Strict Liability, Elinor Mason
34. Moral Luck, Andrew C. Khoury

PART IV. GENERAL PROBLEMS FOR NORMATIVE THEORIES
35. Particularism and Anti-Theory, Garrett Cullity
36. Population Ethics: A Challenge to the Project of Normative Ethics? Gustaf Arrhenius
37. Partial Compliance Theory, Zofia Stemplowska and Henrik D. Kugelberg
38. Some Individual Responsibilities Intertwined With Collectives, Judith Lichtenberg
39. Collective Obligations, William Wringe
40. Moral Circle Explosion, Jeff Sebo
41. The Moral Status of Possible Persons, Tina Rulli

Index