Routledge A History of Utilitarian Ethics: Studies in Private Motivation and Distributive Justice, 1700-1875 (Routledge Studies in the History of Economics)

In this landmark volume, Samuel Hollander presents a fresh and compelling history of moral philosophy from Locke to John Stuart Mill, showing that a ‘moral sense’ can actually be considered compatible with utilitarianism. The book also explores the link between utilitarianism and distributive justice. Hollander engages in close textual exegesis of the works relating to individual authors, while never losing sight of the intellectual relationships between them. Tying together the greatest of the British moral philosophers, this volume reveals an unexpected unity of eighteenth and nineteenth century ethical doctrine at both the individual and social level. Essential reading for advanced students and researchers of the history of economic thought, political economy, history of ethics, history of political thought and intellectual history. Review "Hollander's latest book offers a lively, sharp and authoritative appraisal of the development of utilitarian thought from the early eighteenth century to the late nineteenth century that discounts many prevailing interpretations...The result is a veritable feast that bears all the hallmarks of rigorous scholarship that historians have come to expect from the author. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this well-told account of ethical utilitarianism from John Locke to John Stuart Mill." - Mark Donoghue, History of Economics Review "The value of this book...is in emphasizing the commonalities across different perspectives, and in so doing, offering a rich and generous history of utilitarian moral thought." - Tsin Yen Koh, Utilitas About the Author Samuel Hollander is University Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto, Canada, and an Officer in the Order of Canada.