This page provides basic information about my books along with excerpts from some reviews when available.  If you have any questions or would like to provide me with feedback, please contact me at david.boonin@colorado.edu.  Thank you for your interest in my scholarship. 


1. The Non-Identity Problem and the Ethics of Future People (Oxford University Press, 2014)

"David Boonin's new book provides a wonderful opportunity to take a fresh look at what is perhaps the most important problem ever to arise within the area of population ethics. Brilliantly argued, perfectly organized, fascinating in content and accessible to a broad range of readers, The Non-Identity Problem and the Ethics of Future People marks a critical turning point in our efforts to understand the structure of moral law."
        -- Melinda A. Roberts

"For almost forty years, philosophers have searched for an explanation of why it is wrong for us to bring about the existence of worse- rather than better-off people. In this thorough and methodical book, David Boonin argues that this search is misguided. He systematically reviews all the explanations that have been offered (at least all I know of), and makes a strong case that they either fail to explain the assumed wrong or explain it in ways that have even more implausible implications than denying the wrong. Some books are seminal, opening up a new field or inquiry; this book could be called terminal, cogently arguing that we abandon a search that has been pursued with great resourcefulness and tenacity. Boonin leaves us with a conclusion that many will find disturbing, but some will find liberating: that we face far fewer moral constraints in the creation of future people than we commonly suppose"
         -- David Wasserman


2. Should Race Matter? Unusual Answers to the Usual Questions (Cambridge University Press, 2011)


There have been no published reviews of this book yet, but here are a few comments that people have made:

"David Boonin's Should Race Matter? is the finest book written on the topic and should be required reading for anyone doing serious research in the field. The book contains new and powerful arguments, a comprehensive discussion of the literature, and is written in an organized and highly readable manner. It is superb. Boonin's analyses of key issues in racial ethics are consistent, compelling, and surprising. For example, his discussion of affirmative action is a unique contribution to the literature and provides an insightful and wide-ranging discussion of the rights- and policy-based arguments both for and against this controversial program."
        -- Stephen Kershnar, State University of New York at Fredonia

"Boonin's treatment of this jaggedly emotional issue is meticulous, sober, and ultimately nonpartisan. There is no posturing, no demonizing – only a profoundly honest logic seldom brought to this topic, or any other."
        -- David Schmidtz, University of Arizona


3. The Problem of Punishment (Cambridge University Press, 2008)

From the publisher: "In this book, David Boonin examines the problem of punishment, and particularly the problem of explaining why it is morally permissible for the state to treat those who break the law in ways that would be wrong to treat those who do not. Boonin argues that there is no satisfactory solution to this problem and that the practice of legal punishment should therefore be abolished. Providing a detailed account of the nature of punishment and the problems that it generates, he offers a comprehensive and critical survey of the various solutions that have been offered to the problem and concludes by considering victim restitution as an alternative to punishment. Written in a clear and accessible style, The Problem of Punishment will be of interest to anyone looking for a critical introduction to the subject as well as to those already familiar with it."
From published reviews:

"The Problem of Punishment combines an incredible command of the literature with an organized and careful discussion. With the possible exception of Michael Moores book, Placing Blame (1997), this is the best book ever written on the philosophy of punishment."
        -- Law and Philosophy, reviewed by Stephen Kershnar, (2010) 29:627–632

"Because the book is so comprehensive and so clear—it engages with, and challenges, each major variant of each major justificatory approach—it merits attention not only as an important original contribution to the literature but also as a wonderful teaching tool.. . . the book [is] a signal achievement. Its critical discussion of the prevailing theories is lucid, wide ranging, and closely argued, and it will take its place among the standard texts on punishment in the years to come."
        -- Ethics, reviewed by George Sher, Vol. 119, No. 4 (July 2009), pp. 761-764


4. A Defense of Abortion (Cambridge University Press, 2003)

From the publisher: "The central thesis of philosopher David Boonin is that the moral case against abortion can be shown to be unsuccessful on terms that critics of abortion can and do accept. Critically examining a wide array of arguments that have attempted to establish that every human fetus has a right to life, Boonin posits that all of these arguments fail on their own terms. He then argues that even if the fetus does have a right to life, abortion can still be shown to be morally permissible on the critic of abortion's own terms. Finally, Boonin considers a number of arguments against abortion that do not depend on the claim that the fetus has a right to life, including those based on the golden rule, considerations of uncertainty and a commitment to certain feminist principles, and asserts that these positions, too, are ultimately unsuccessful. The result is the most thorough and detailed case for the moral permissibility of abortion that has yet been written."

From the back cover:

"David Boonin's book is must reading for anyone seriously concerned with the abortion issue.  Boonin discusses all the important perspectives.  His analyses are clear and insightful.  Boonin's book is the best available book on the ethics of abortion."
        -- Don Marquis, University of Kansas

"I have never read a better examination of all the arguments that have been raised against abortion. Nor have I read a better series of counter arguments against each of these arguments."
        -- Rosemarie Tong, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

"Boonin gives a persuasive interpretation and development of Judith Jarvis Thomson’s good-samaritan argument. He dispatches with great authority Don Marquis’s future-like-ours argument. This original and carefully argued book will revitalize the abortion controversy."
        -- Bonnie Steinbock, State University of New York, Albany

From published reviews:

"[Boonin's book] may be the most philosophically thorough book-length treatment of abortion to date and, perhaps, also the best."
        -- Philosophy and Public Affairs, reviewed by David DeGrazia, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 413-42.

"This book is a truly wonderful piece of applied analytic moral philosophy. It considers an extremely important issue and reasons carefully, clearly, cleverly, and convincingly. The set of arguments surveyed is so complete that there is something for virtually anyone with any stake in the issue—philosophers, religious persons, feminists. Although I found occasional points to quibble about, the book is so overwhelmingly genuine and convincingly argued that to state them here would be petty in the extreme. Anyone who has not read this book cannot claim to have a considered objection to the permissibility of abortion, nor can anyone who has read and understood it, for that matter."
        -- Ethics, reviewed by Ann E. Cudd, Vol. 116, No. 4 (July 2006), pp. 781-785

 
5. Thomas Hobbes and the Science of Moral Virtue (Cambridge University Press, 1994)

From the publisher: "In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes defines moral philosophy as 'the science of Virtue and Vice', yet few modern readers take this description seriously. Moreover, it is typically assumed that Hobbes' ethical views are unrelated to his views of science. Influential modern interpreters have portrayed Hobbes as either an amoralist, or a moral contractarian, or a rule egoist, or a divine command theorist. David Boonin challenges all these assumptions and presents a new, and very unorthodox, interpretation of Hobbes's ethics. He shows that Hobbes is best understood as embracing a theory of virtue concerned with the development of good character traits rather than with rules of behaviour. In focusing in a quite new way on Hobbes's moral theory this book is likely to attract considerable attention amongst both philosophers and intellectual historians."

From the book jacket: "There is no question but that the . . . arguments are strikingly original; that they are based on an accurate knowledge of the whole of Hobbes's writings; and that they are persuasively formulated.  Anyone trying to defend a conventional interpretation of Hobbes in the future is, I think, going to have to take [Boonin] seriously; he has certainly made me rethink my own assumptions about what Hobbes is doing."
        -- David Wootton, University of Victoria, Canada

From published reviews:  [in some cases, I have rearranged quotes from within a review]:

“[T]he merits of this book are many.  [Boonin’s] arguments are always very clear, he refers to all of Hobbes’s writings (including the scientific texts), he discusses and convincingly criticizes a large number of well-known interpretations, and presents his own, challenging thesis.”
        -- Canadian Philosophical Reviews, August 1995, reviewed by Timo Airaksinen

“The truly illuminating feature of [Boonin’s] argument is his demonstration of the importance of virtue in Hobbes’s theory. . . .  For all who have read Hobbes and overlooked his emphasis on virtue, and even for those who have noticed it to some extent . . . or recognized the related importance of education in his theory . . . [Boonin] has rendered us an important service by presenting an extended, detailed, and well-supported argument for acknowledging the importance of virtue in Hobbes’s theory.”
        -- Ethics: July 1996, reviewed by Rosamond Rhodes

“The picture of Hobbes’ philosophy suggested by [Boonin’s] interpretation seems to me both inherently more plausible and better textually supported than those of his competitors. . . . [He makes] a powerful case for understanding Hobbes as a virtue ethicist who makes human character rather than action the central concern of his moral theory. . . .  [Boonin’s] book itself manifests a variety of philosophical virtues.  It is perspicuously structured and clearly expressed.  It is informed by a broad knowledge of the full sweep of Hobbes’ own writings, and those of his commentators. Most importantly, it is argumentatively strong and philosophically suggestive.  It will be of value to all who are interested in Hobbes' moral and political philosophy.”
        -- Philosophical Quarterly, October, 1996, reviewed by Andrew Alexandra

“[The book] presents an interpretation of Hobbes’s moral philosophy that is well supported by scholarly evidence even though it is significantly at odds with what has been the prevailing interpretation of Hobbes’s moral philosophy. . . .  Concerning almost all of the issues which [Boonin] does discuss in any detail, he makes his points clearly and forcefully. . . . [T]his book has significant value not only for those interested in Hobbes interpretation, but also for all those with a more general interest in moral theory.”
        -- Mind: July, 2000, reviewed by Bernard Gert: