David Gauthier is a Canadian-American
philosopher best known for his neo-
Hobbesian social contract (contractarian) theory of
morality, as laid out in his book
Morals By Agreement. Gauthier takes
value as a matter of individuals'
subjective preferences, and argues that moral constraints on straightforward utility-maximizing are
prudentially justified. He argues that it's most prudent to give up straightforward maximizing and instead adopt a disposition of constrained maximization, according to which one resolves to cooperate with all similarly disposed persons and defect on the rest. In other words, moral constraints are justified because they make us all better off, in terms of our preferences (whatever they may be). A consequence is that good moral thinking is just an elevated and subtly
strategic version of plain old means-end
reasoning.