Human nature and goodness › Reading the book's argument

The book's sequence provides a useful route through these questions. Read the opening discussion of subjectivism alongside the account of natural norms, then attend closely to the transition to human beings. The transition carries the central burden: an account adequate for plants or animals must be developed to accommodate reasons, choice, and the evaluation of will.

The chapters on practical rationality and human goodness then ask how moral considerations belong within reasoning about action. The discussion of happiness examines the connection between goodness and happiness. The final treatment of immoralism examines a challenge to the moral outlook itself.

When applying the account, choose a particular judgment and state the connection it claims. If honesty is at issue, identify who needs an accurate account and why. If courage is at issue, identify the good for which a risk might be justified. Then consider whether the account has overlooked another person's claim or an important limitation.

Foot's proposal gives those questions a common direction. Moral evaluation should become intelligible through the lives of the beings whose will it evaluates. Following that direction requires argument about human good, and a willingness to revise an attractive moral description when the life it is supposed to explain does not support it.