•  88
    A matter of life and death
    Noûs 10 (2): 145-171. 1976.
  •  38
    More light on the later mill
    Philosophical Review 83 (4): 504-527. 1974.
  •  54
    Hare's arguments against ethical naturalism
    Journal of Philosophy 64 (23): 779-791. 1967.
  •  14
    Consequences of Utilitarianism
    Dialogue 7 (4): 639-642. 1969.
    This is a book built round an argument. Several variants of the argument are offered, and I shall consider but one of them. It is directed against the following act utilitarian principle:AU: An act is right if and only if it would have best consequences The argument may be freely rendered as follows. Suppose that we have an agent, Smith, in a society, S, such that the following conditions are satisfied:C1: Smith accepts AU and attempts always to act in accordance with itC2: Smith is rational: he…Read more
  •  924
    The moral foundation of rights
    Oxford University Press. 1987.
    What does it mean for someone to have a moral right to something? What kinds of creatures can have rights, and which rights can they have? While rights are indispensable to our moral and political thinking, they are also mysterious and controversial; as long as these controversies remain unsolved, rights will remain vulnerable to skepticism. Here, Sumner constructs both a coherent concept of a moral right and a workable substantive theory of rights to provide the moral foundation necessary to di…Read more
  •  11
    Reply to Hurka and Copp
    Dialogue 28 (1): 149-. 1989.
    I am deeply indebted to Tom Hurka and David Copp for the careful attention they have given to some of the central motifs in The Moral Foundation of Rights. By doing their job so well they have simplified mine considerably. Their exposition of my views is a model of fairness and accuracy; I need therefore waste no time disclaiming attributions or complaining about misrepresentation. Furthermore, they have shown admirable resolve in choosing to ignore the book's relatively peripheral concerns, eve…Read more
  •  1
    Book Review (review)
    Law and Philosophy 32 (2-3): 377-383. 2013.
  •  13
    Perfectionism
    Philosophical Review 104 (1): 151. 1995.
  •  164
    Welfare, Happiness, and Pleasure
    Utilitas 4 (2): 199-223. 1992.
    Time and philosophical fashion have not been kind to hedonism. After flourishing for three centuries or so in its native empiricist habitat, it has latterly all but disappeared from the scene. Does it now merit even passing attention, for other than nostalgic purposes? Like endangered species, discredited ideas do sometimes manage to make a comeback. Is hedonism due for a revival of this sort? Perhaps it is overly optimistic to think that it could ever flourish again in its original form; the ev…Read more
  •  87
    Is Virtue Its Own Reward?: L. W. SUMNER
    Social Philosophy and Policy 15 (1): 18-36. 1998.
    If I lead a life of virtue, that may well be good for you. But will it also be good for me? The idea that it will—or even must—is an ancient one, and its appeal runs deep. For if this idea is correct then we can provide everyone with a good reason—arguably the best reason—for being virtuous. However, for all the effort which has been invested in defending the idea, by some of the best minds in the history of philosophy, it remains unproven. Worse, in this skeptical age hardly anyone really belie…Read more
  •  9
    Deliberating on Death
    Dialogue 23 (3): 503-508. 1984.
    As a distinct academic subdiscipline medical ethics is only about fifteen years old, but during that brief lifespan it has managed to generate a literature so vast that only specialists and speedreaders can now hope to keep up with more than a small fraction of it. When a literature has achieved this density new contributions must bear the burden of showing that they advance the existing state of the art. Eike-Henner W. Kluge's book joins a well-established continuing debate on the morality of e…Read more
  •  8
    Critical notice
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy 16 (3): 527-543. 1986.
  • The Good and the Right
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Supplementary Volume 5 (n/a): 99. 1979.
  •  31
    Positive Sexism*: L. W. SUMINER
    Social Philosophy and Policy 5 (1): 204-222. 1987.
    No one who cares about equal opportunity can derive much comfort from the present occupational distribution of working women. In the various industrial societies of the West, women comprise between one quarter and one-half of the national labor force. However, they tend to clustered in employment sectors – especially clerical, sales, and service J occupations – which rank relatively low in remuneration, status, autonomy, and other perquisites. Meanwhile, the more prestigious and rewarding manage…Read more
  •  14
    A Response to Morris
    Bowling Green Studies in Applied Philosophy 8 22-23. 1986.
  •  3
    I am grateful to John Woods and David Soles for the careful attention they have given to some of the central arguments of Abortion and Moral Theory, though I wish that they had revealed fewer respects in which those arguments were seriously underdeveloped. In what follows I will try to supply some of the needed further development. I address the main points at issue in what I conceive to be their order of ascending importance.
  •  39
    Interests and Rights: The Case Against Animals
    Philosophical Review 92 (3): 447. 1983.
  • CL Ten, Mill on Liberty Reviewed by
    Philosophy in Review 1 (5): 229-232. 1981.
  •  26
    Reply to Williams
    Criminal Law and Philosophy 9 (2): 331-335. 2015.
    In her review of my book Assisted Death: A Study in Ethics and Law, Glenys Williams raises a number of substantive objections to its argument. In this note I reply to those objections
  • Politician, Judges, and the Charter
    Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 21 (1): 227-238. 2008.
    The complaint is a familiar one: unelected, politically unaccountable judges are using their powers of judicial review to subvert the democratic process by shaping public policy in accordance with their own personal moral/political views. It is tempting to dismiss this complaint as the grumbling of those, usually on the political right, who have been disaffected by court decisions with which they personally disagree. But this temptation must be resisted, since the critics of judicial review, suc…Read more
  •  140
    Assisted death: a study in ethics and law
    Oxford University Press. 2011.
    In this timely book L.W. Sumner addresses these issues within the wider context of palliative care for patients in the dying process.
  •  21
    Justice Contracted
    Dialogue 26 (3): 523. 1987.
    In the longrunning war between the friends of knowledge and their sceptical enemies the moral front has always been one of the busiest. Here the sceptic assails us in the guise of the cunning and resourceful amoralist who disavows all ethical constraints. Some philosophers, seeing no prospect of defeating the amoralist by rational methods, have fallen back on a policy of containment by means of social and political sanctions. But others of a more truculent frame of mind have continued to seek a …Read more
  •  2
  •  547
    Welfare, happiness, and ethics
    Oxford University Press. 1996.
    Moral philosophers agree that welfare matters. But they disagree about what it is, or how much it matters. In this vital new work, Wayne Sumner presents an original theory of welfare, investigating its nature and discussing its importance. He considers and rejects all notable theories of welfare, both objective and subjective, including hedonism and theories founded on desire or preference. His own theory connects welfare closely with happiness or life satisfaction. Reacting against the value pl…Read more
  •  2
    Critical notice (review)
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy 9 (1): 185-194. 1979.