Perfectionism

"Hurka's book is a clear formulation of perfectionism. It is historically informed and philosophically sophisticated. All readers will benefit."--Canadian Philosophical Reviews "Hurka's book is a clear formulation of perfectionism. It is historically informed and philosophically sophisticated. All readers will benefit."--Canadian Philosophical Reviews "Readers accustomed to the high conceptual and argumentative standards characteristic of analytic philosophy at its best will not be disappointed by Hurka's discussions. In every case, whether or not his arguments win conviction in the end, they invariably illuminate and leave the impression that the issues have been explored in a fair and even-handed way. Hurka's conclusions are also often becoming in their tentativeness and modesty: where he can find no definitive resolution of a question he has the candor to say so....Hurka has done a remarkable job of building an elegant and attractive version of perfectionism. Written with admirable rigor and clarity, his book will surely remain the definitive treatment of the theory by an analytic philosopher for a very long while. By presenting perfectionism in the best possible light he has done a great service to the theory's supporters and critics alike."--The Philosophical Review "This is a brilliant book....I know of no other discussion of human and moral good that is so rewarding....Highly original and deeply insightful."--Philosophical Books "Hurka's book is of most interest to ethicists, but it offers a useful device for evaluating utopian assertions about human perfection....His work is intellectually challenging..."--Utopian Studies "...the book is engaging and carefully argued. It will be of good use for graduate courses and advanced undergraduate courses on normative theory."--Teaching Philosophy