The Desirability of the Good: A Defense of the Objective List Theory

Interest in objective list theories is driven by the difficulties faced by both hedonism and desire theories: in particular, the scarce plausibility of their attitude-dependence and the poor consistency with our considered moral judgments. Objective List Theories, however, are often charged with not offering any clear explanation of the goodness of objective goods and the related allegation of providing no principled way to decide which elements should feature in the list. It is argued that an explanatory account centered on the notion of ‘desirability’ can overcome these difficulties, as well as weaken another standard objection, that Objective List Theories alienate people from their desires.