Handbook of Supererogation

Supererogation is the category of moral actions which go beyond the call of duty. This collection of articles is the first of its kind to cover the broad spectrum of issues related to supererogation. It provides an up-to-date status of the discussion on the main issues, alternative analyses, and controversies regarding central cases of supererogation. The work explores a broad range of philosophical problems and challenges our presuppositions about the basis of ethical theories. Beyond the challenges of supererogation to deontological and utilitarian views, this book presents the latest developments in the way virtue ethics approaches supererogation. It also discusses the issue of whether there is a negative analogue to the supererogatory: the suberogatory. The Handbook consists also of the first systematic discussion of supererogation from the point of view of five religions as well as a feminist analysis of the concept. The book is an essential read for philosophy scholars interested in moral philosophy.

David Heyd received his Ph.D. from Oxford University in 1976. The dissertation's topic was supererogation, which is the subject of this handbook. He then became a tenured faculty member at the department of philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1976 till his formal retirement in 2014 as a full professor and Chaim Perelman Chair in Philosophy. He is still teaching part-time at the university. He has been  a visiting fellow and a visiting scholar in Harvard, Berkeley, Princeton, Columbia, and at the NIH (each time for a year). In 2017, he won the EMET Prize in philosophy, which is one of the two most prestigious academic awards in Israel. His main fields of expertise are moral philosophy, political philosophy, and bioethics.