Chapter 09 Chapter Summary

Cahn affirms the possibility of a happy immoralism and claims that this poses a serious challenge to morality, as it weakens the motivation to choose the moral path. In response, Murphy argues that the immoralist can perhaps be happy in a worldly sense but not in the way philosophers such as Plato, Kierkegaard, and Foot reconceive the term. More than the “philosophical sleight of hand” Cahn takes it to be, this redefinition of happiness as “the satisfaction one takes in having a personality wherein all elements required for a fully realized human life are harmoniously integrated” has enriched our civilization. Unconvinced, Cahn concludes with two fictional but realistic examples of immoral acts that seem to contribute to the happiness of the actors.