Consequentialism; Contractarianism / Contractualism; Deontology

200 Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses 32/1-2 2003 

those regions than it did in Korea and that Christianity’s growth in those regions 

should have been comparable to that in Korea, which has not been the case. To be 

fair, Chung does note at a few places in his book that social and historical factors also 

played a role in the success of Christianity in Korea, but he clearly downplays them 

in favor of his congenial-point-of-contact argument. But Chung’s failure to make his 

case in Syncretism leads one to suspect that a more likely explanation lies in those factors. 

Timothy S. Lee 

Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University 

Consequentialism 

Stephen Darwall, editor 

Oxford: Blackwell, 2003. vii + 301 p. 

Contractarianism/Contractualism 



Deontology 



Virtue Ethics 



This set of books is part of the Blackwell Readings in Philosophy series. The series has 

as its goal to “provide valuable resources for teachers and students of philosophy, and 

for all those interested in gaining a solid understanding of central topics in philosophy”(ii). 

Each of these books is devoted to one of the four traditional kinds of ethical 

theory. Each book contains a short introduction to the relevant concepts and arguments 

followed by a collection of primary sources, divided into sections with classical 

sources, contemporary expressions and a contemporary discussion. 

The first volume in this set, Consequentialism, begins with an introduction to this 

type of ethical theory including its basic tenets and the relevant terms. Consequentialism 

is based on the “agent-neutral value of possible outcomes or states” (2). Consequentialist 

theories share the belief that “the moral rightness and wrongness of acts 

is determined by the nonmoral value of relevant consequences” (2). Types of consequentialism 

are briefly described and distinguished from each other, including act-consequentialism 

and rule-consequentialism. Utilitarianism, as the “most popular form historically,” 

receives special attention. It is a type of “welfare consequentialism” in 

which the moral rightness of acts is based on “what would produce the greatest overall 

value,” in terms of benefits and costs (3). Finally, consequentialism is contrasted 

with contractarianism and contractualism as well as deontology. 

The classical sources for this volume are Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, 

Henry Sidgwick and G. E. Moore. There are a number of contemporary consequentialists 

represented, such as Derek Parfit, Peter Railton and Richard Brandt. The 

contemporary discussion section includes John Rawls’ chapter on “Classical utilitarianism” 

from A Theory of Justice and an article by Amartya Sen entitled “Utilitarianism 

and welfarism.”

Comptes rendus / Reviews of books 201 

The introduction to the second volume, Contractarianism/Contractualism, faces the 

daunting task of distinguishing between these two closely related types of ethical 

theory. They both claim that “moral principles are those that would be rationally or 

reasonably chosen or agreed to under certain ideal, counterfactual conditions” (1). 

Contractarianism is a response to the “collective action problem,” illustrated here by 

the Prisoner’s Dilemma, in which each party begins from his own self-interest and 

must find ways to cooperate that promote the interests of both. Darwall’s description 

of the Prisoner’s Dilemma is particularly clear and helpful to an understanding of this 

type of theory. The principles that are developed by contractarian ethical theories are 

those that would be rationally agreed upon from the initial perspective of promoting 

one’s own self-interest with the recognition that cooperation is mutually beneficial. 

The agreement to moral principles in contractualism, on the other hand, is based on 

the “moral ideal of equal respect” (4). An example of this type of theory is found in 

Kant’s concept of the “kingdom of ends” according to which individuals would agree 

to moral rules from a “common perspective as one free and equal person among others” 

(5). 

Selections from Hobbes, Rousseau and Kant provide classical sources, while 

David Gauthier, Gilbert Harman, John Rawls and T. M. Scanlon are included in the 

sections on contemporary expressions. Finally, a contemporary discussion by Gary Watson 

develops considerations in favor of contractualism. 

Darwall begins the introduction to the third volume, Deontology, by contrasting 

deontological theories with consequentialism. The basic difference is that deontologists 

reject the notion that moral standards are based on “agent-neutral” outcomes 

or states. Deontological theories claim that there are moral duties that are “agent-relative” 

(2). Darwall points out that contractualism is one form of deontological theory. 

Intuitionism is another form, in which the right-making and wrong-making factors 

in a moral situation are often described as duties. One problem recognized 

here is that we may sometimes be faced with conflicting duties. Although there is no 

fundamental principle to use in resolving such conflicts, W. D. Ross does provide a 

method that involves reflecting on the morally relevant features of the situation and 

how these interact with each other. 

The classical sources for deontology include three selections from Kant, one 

from Richard Price and one from W. D. Ross. A variety of essays by philosophers such 

as Robert Nozick, Thomas Nagel, Judith Jarvis Thomson and Christine Korsgaard 

make up the section on contemporary expressions. 

The absence of a discussion of Kant in this introduction is somewhat puzzling. 

There is a footnote directing the reader to the introduction in the volume on contractarianism/contractualism, 

where Kant’s idea of the kingdom of ends is given as 

an example of a contractualist ethical theory. However, Kant is not mentioned in the 

introduction to this volume on deontology until the list of readings. This seems very 

odd since Kant’s theory is normally considered to be the primary example of a deontological 

ethical theory. Some mention of the other formulations of the Categorical 

Imperative, the principle of universality and the principle of humanity, would have 

been useful and appropriate here. 

The introduction to the final volume in this set of books, Virtue Ethics, begins by 

pointing out that consequentialism, contractarianism, contractualism and deontology 

are all moral theories because they address questions of right and wrong conduct 

(1). Virtue ethics, on the other hand, is primarily about character. For example,

Consequentialism; Contractarianism / Contractualism; Deontology

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