Research On The Theory Of Hooker’ Rule-consequentialism

In the field of normative ethics, the moral theories of consequentialism includingthe utilitarianism, the early form of the consequentialism, are the theories that arewidely criticized and responded. To defend these theories, those defenders arecarefully researching and revising their theories, and the most notable one is BradHooker’s rule-consequentialism. Hooker has made a series of persuasive defenses forhis theory and devoted himself to expressing a kind of the rule-consequentialism in aclear and definite way. His rule-consequentialism can’t only effectively respond tothe criticisms from act-consequentialism, but avoid being misled by some therule-utilitarianism generated from the contractarianism. Differing from the classicutilitarianism, Hooker’s rule-consequentialism doesn’t adopt the maximum utilities orwelfares as the only standard to evaluate the moralities；on the other hand thisrule-consequentialism is also differing from the act-consequentialism which evaluatesbehaviors in a direct way. Hooker’s theory concentrates on the rules instead of theconsequences or the utilities and emphasizes internalizing these rules in a universalway will realize the maximum of impartial good. We can be guided by the daily moralintuition via adopting the rule-consequentialism. Hooker’s rule-consequentialism hasenriched the theories of contemporary consequentialism, and composed the importantpart of the contemporary researching of normative ethics. As a result of only a fewresearches regarding contemporary consequentialism in the domestic, this thesisfocuses on the main ideas of Hooker’s rule-consequentialism via analyzing andexplaining his researches. By systematically explaining Hooker’s theory of therule-consequentialism, I construct this thesis with three parts. Hooker’s criticisms andimprovement of act-consequentialism, Hooker’s argumentation regarding therule-consequentialism and the main criticisms that the rule-consequentialismconfronted. The goal of this thesis is to improve further comprehension regarding theconsequentialism via interpreting Hooker’s theory.