Candace Vogler is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago.

• Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Instrumentalism about Practical Reason 2. In Some Sense Good 3. Medieval and Modern 4. Pleasure 5. Fit 6. Use 7. The Standard Picture of Practical Reason 8. Ethics Appendix A: Anscombe's Argument Appendix B: Anscombe's Objection to Donald Davidson Appendix C: A Note about Kant and Befitting-Style Desirability Characterizations Appendix D: Moral Actions, Virtuous Actions, Expressive Actions Appendix E: Some Notes about the Standard Picture and Formal Work Notes Bibliography Index

It is sometimes better in philosophy not to allow oneself to be distracted by a range of possible objections to this or that aspect of a complex theory that one is developing, but instead to restrict oneself to articulating it as fully and adequately as possible, so that it becomes available as an object of critical discussion. And here Vogler has performed magnificently, drawing first upon Elizabeth Anscombe's for too long unjustly neglected Intention, and supplementing it with arguments that elucidate the notion of a desirability-characterization. She makes excellent use both of Aquinas's three-fold division of good and of some of his discussions of vice and of pleasure. She develops the notion of the benefiting in a way that makes it highly relevant to contemporary discussions. And she elaborates an unusually interesting theory about why and how practical reason has to be calculative. What we are given is a distinctive, well-argued, in some key respects original and beautifully written account of practical reason. I cannot imagine anyone who has involved her or himself in this area of enquiry who would not find it profitable reading, even if it only moved them to redefine and to sharpen their disagreements with the positions taken by the author. It is a very enjoyable book to read.