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Title: Utilitarianism, Hedonism, and Desert : Essays in Moral Philosophy by Fred Feldman ISBN: 0-521-59842-7 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 13 August, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.00

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Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: In response to the earlier review
Comment: Fred Feldman's book is a worthy contribution to the literature on value-theory. The previous reviewer seems not to appreciate the precision, and... well, occasional dullness, of philosophy "well done." The most interesting essay to my mind was the third one, "The Principle of Moral Harmony." This alone was worth the price of the book. Feldman shows that act utilitarianism fails to generate obligations that will ensure that the whole community will be better off in the end, and he concludes with a very brief (but suggestive) discussion of the purpose of morality. Another very interesting paper is "Two Concepts of Pleasure," where Feldman distinguishes the propositional attitude of enjoyment from sensory pleasure. In these and other articles, Feldman's style is clear and precise; he seems to be a very fair-minded and level-headed philosopher.

Now: If you are merely interested in "hedonistic egoism" a la Max Stirner (or Epicurus, if he were on crack), you are advised NOT to buy this book. Feldman's discussion centers on the proper formulation of hedonism in value-theory; it has nothing to do with "hedonistic egoism." In fact, Feldman yokes his "attitudinal" version of hedonism to a "world utilitarianism," so he is certainly no egoist.

Rating: 3
Summary: Word Games
Comment: Fred Feldman may be a wonderful philosopher and a heck of a guy but he must have skipped out on english class in college. Despite the fact that Utilitarianism is a wholly uninteresting topic and the primary reson for anyone to buy this book would be the second section on hedonism Feldman's essays on Utilitarianism leave you crying from yawns. Finally (Assuming you haven't skipped over the first section) you struggle through to part two:Hedonism and find that instead of a concise and informative essay on the various aspects and moral questions posed by hedonism you discover Feldman wants to play word games. Fully half the Hedonistic section is composed of his analyzing the grammatical correctness of various philosophers who reffered to sensory vs. propositional pleasure. Given this is a valuable aspect of hedonism personally I do not find it prudent to spend fully three-fourths of the entire section discussing it. This book wasn't for me, if, however you wish to compare propositional pleasure with sensory pleasure it's a good buy for you.