GOD, THE GOOD, AND UTILITARIANISM Is ethics about happiness? Aristotle thought so and for centuries Christians agreed, until utilitarianism raised worries about where this would lead. In this volume, Peter Singer, leading utilitarian philosopher and controversial defender of infanticide and euthanasia, addresses this question in conversation with Christian ethicists and secularutilitarians.Theirengagementrevealssurprisingpointsofagree- mentanddifferenceonquestionsofmoraltheory,thehistoryofethics, andcurrentissuessuchasclimatechange,abortion,povertyandanimal rights. The volume explores the advantages and pitfalls of basing morality on happiness; if ethics is teleological, is its proper aim the subjectivesatisfactionofpreferences?Orishumanflourishingfoundin objective goods: friendship, intellectual curiosity, meaningful labour? ThisvolumeprovidesatimelyreviewofhowutilitariansandChristians conceive of the good, and will be of great interest to those studying religiousethics,philosophyofreligion,andappliedethics. john perry is Lecturer in Theological Ethics at the University of St Andrews, and formerly McDonald Fellow for Christian Ethics & Public Life at the University of Oxford. He is the author of The PretensesofLoyalty(2011). GOD, THE GOOD, AND UTILITARIANISM Perspectives on Peter Singer edited by JOHN PERRY UniversityPrintingHouse,Cambridgecb28bs,UnitedKingdom PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107050754 ©CambridgeUniversityPress,2014 Chapter2‘EngagingwithChristianity’©PeterSinger,2014 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2014 PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata God,thegood,andutilitarianism:perspectivesonPeterSinger/editedbyJohnPerry. pages cm Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. isbn978-1-107-05075-4 1. Singer,Peter,1946– 2. Utilitarianism. 3. Goodandevil. 4. Christian ethics. I. Perry,John,1976–editorofcompilation. b5704.s554g63 2013 1710.5–dc23 2013032792 isbn978-1-107-05075-4Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication, anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. It is a special object of the present work to avoid all hasty and premature reconciliations, and to exhibit fairly the divergence of thedifferentmethodswithoutextenuationorexaggeration. HenrySidgwick,TheMethodsofEthics Contents Contributors page ix Acknowledgements x Introduction 1 JohnPerry part i framing the debate 13 1 Wheredidutilitarianismcomefrom? 15 JohnPerry 2 EngagingwithChristianity 53 PeterSinger 3 EngagingwithPeterSinger 68 CharlesC.Camosy part ii theoretical issues 91 4 Morality,happiness,andPeterSinger 93 JohnHare 5 Moralreason,communitybelonging,andglobaljustice 104 LisaSowleCahill 6 Actsorrules?Thefine-tuningofutilitarianism 125 BradHooker vii viii Contents part iii practical issues 139 7 Whatisgoodforthedistantfuture?Thechallengeof climatechangeforutilitarianism 141 TimMulgan 8 Howtorespectotheranimals:lessonsfortheologyfrom PeterSingerandviceversa 160 DavidClough 9 Globalpovertyandthedemandsofmorality 177 TobyOrd 10 Rememberthepoor:duties,dilemmas,andvocation 192 EricGregory Bibliography 209 Index 219