Hedonism, Egoism, Consequentialism, and Deontology: Philosophy Shorts Volume 14

This book concisely explicates and evaluates four doctrines concerning the nature of moral obligation:

*Hedonism (one's sole moral obligation is to enjoy oneself);
*Egoism (one's sole moral obligation is to serve one's own interests);
*Consequentialism (the ends justify the means); and
*Deontology (the ends do not justify the means).

It is shown that:

*The debate between consequentialism and deontology is spurious, since, despite appearances, these doctrines are equivalent;
*Hedonism is incoherent, since a purely pleasure-oriented psychological architecture would not be sufficiently integrated to be capable of making moral decisions; and for much the same reason,
*Egoism is compatible with other, more conventional ethical doctrines.