The Purpose of Ethics

The Purpose of Ethics describes an original moral theory similar in nature to Preference Utilitarianism. However, it is a major unifying theory, reconciling the apparently conflicting differences between moral theories that have been prevalent in the twentieth century: between consequentialist and motivist traditions for example; and between the Utilitarian, Kantian and Liberal Egalitarian approaches. Unlike previous theories, which are grounded on different, unexplained assumptions, the purposive moral theory in this book is deduced step by step to produce, as its solid basis, the purposes of human societal life. These purposes are then analysed in detail in terms of their causal factors to derive a 'society model' containing 285 factors, which represent social behaviour in the areas of medical ethics, sexual morality, human liberty, crime and punishment, socio-economics, military ethics, animal ethics, environmental ethics and health & safety.