Preface

I wrote the greater part of this volume of metaphysical philosophy during the better part of a wet and windy week in Salthill, Galway, the Republic of Ireland, when my health, bad as it had been back in London, was at an all-time low and every page was an immense struggle with my physical condition. Not having systematically undertaken any such project for several years, I was a little unsure that I would be able to proceed with any confidence anyway but, as things turned out, my old habits of scrawling in a notebook with a pen were soon resurrected, and I found, in spite of my poor health, that ideas came in no short supply – indeed, that the spirit was willing but the flesh decidedly weakened by illness. Nonetheless, much of the work turned out to be less of a resume of my philosophy, including what had already been committed to weblogs , than an exploration of new territory, in which I had to struggle with a variety of conflicting possibilities and strive to reach as coherent an assessment and conclusion as possible. In retrospect I can say that without subsequent revision back in London and some additional appended material, the results would have been inconclusive, if not misleading. But, as things turned out, much of this newer material has now passed the test of closer inspection and will, I believe, stand the test of time as further evidence of philosophical truth, adding a veneer of certitude to my finished product. In this title, a conclusive account of morality, in all its various permutations, has been undertaken and resolved, though only that morality which is logically likely to lead to or encompass the best of all possible worlds has been ideologically endorsed, together with its corresponding unmorality, a term which aptly describes the correlative, if subordinate, gender position in this best of all possible worlds.

John O'Loughlin, London 2008 (Revised 2012)