ABSTRACT
The central aim of David Gauthier’s Morals by Agreement is to derive principles of morality, or justice, from the starting-point of the agent as a rational, selfinterested (non-tuist) utility-maximizer. ‘Morality’, Gauthier argues, ‘…can be generated as a rational constraint from the non-moral premises of rational choice’. 1 Self-interest, as Gauthier recognizes, is an unproblematic motive for human
action. If Gauthier can demonstrate that the rules of morality further our interests, it is not difficult for him to explain the authority of morality, that is, why we would act in accordance with moral precepts.
