b. 1941
Fred Feldman is a contemporary analytic philosopher and professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, best known for his work in normative ethics, philosophy of death, and welfare theory. He has defended attitudinal hedonism as an account of well-being and made influential contributions to actualism about moral obligation, arguing that what an agent is obligated to do is indexed to specific times and circumstances. His work spans consequentialism, the badness of death, and the metaphysics of value.
Developed attitudinal hedonism as a sophisticated theory of welfare and well-being
Defended actualism about moral obligation, arguing obligations are time-indexed to actual circumstances
Argued for the deprivation account of death's badness in 'Confrontations with the Reaper' (1992)
Authored 'Pleasure and the Good Life' (2004), a systematic defense of hedonistic axiology
Contributed foundational analysis to the actualism-possibilism debate in consequentialist ethics