Edited by Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek and Peter Singer, “the acknowledged heirs of the founders of utilitarianism” (Jeff McMahan), the Norton Library edition of Utilitarianism features the complete text of the seventh (1879) edition, preceded by a thorough introduction to the work’s historical and intellectual contexts. Extensive endnotes clarify obscure terms and provide detailed analysis of the most philosophically significant passages, helping students to understand and critically engage with “the most famous defense of the utilitarian view ever written” (Geoffrey Scarre).

Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek is Assistant Professor in the Institute of Philosophy, University of Lódz, Poland. A hedonistic utilitarian, she focuses her research on the philosophy of Henry Sidgwick and Derek Parfit, as well as on the concepts of well-being and pleasure. Together with Peter Singer she has written The Point of View of the Universe (Oxford University Press, 2014) and Utilitarianism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2017). Apart from academic work, she is keen to convey philosophical ideas to a wider audience, giving lectures and writing for popular magazines on how to live a good life. Peter Singer, an Australian philosopher, is currently Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He is best known for Animal Liberation, first published in 1975 and widely considered to be the founding statement of the animal rights movement; and for The Life You Can Save, which led him to found the charity of the same name. His other books include Practical Ethics, The Most Good You Can Do, and the two books co-authored with Katarzyna de Lazari- Radek. In 2005, Time magazine named him one of the World’s 100 Most Influential People.