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Consequentialism: Its Difficulties

Consequentialism: Its Difficulties. PHI 2630. ?. ?. ?. Consequentialism. Consequentialism. impartiality. hedonism. Focus on results (future orientation). Consequentialism and right action.

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Consequentialism: Its Difficulties

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  1. Consequentialism: Its Difficulties PHI 2630

  2. ? ? ? Consequentialism

  3. Consequentialism impartiality hedonism Focus on results(future orientation)

  4. Consequentialism and right action An action is right just because it results in the greatest balance of happiness/pleasure over sadness/pain In the world, compared to every other possible action in the situation.

  5. Difficulty 1: Measuring Well-Being 1A) Impossible to track down all results to measure them.

  6. Difficulty 1: Measuring Well-Being grateful frustrated angry content in the zone 1B) Even if we could track down all results, there is no way to precisely measure and add up the many instances and types of well-being and ill-being of many different individuals. sad

  7. "Argument from Value Measurement" 1. Consequentialism/utilitarianism is true only if there is a precise unit of measurement that can determine the value of an action's results. 2. There is no such unit of measurement 3. Therefore, consequentialism/utilitarianism is false

  8. "Argument from Value Measurement" 1. Consequentialism/utilitarianism is true only if there is a precise unit of measurement that can determine the value of an action's results. 2. There is no such unit of measurement. 3. Therefore, consequentialism/utilitarianism is false. F

  9. Difficulty 1: Measuring Well-Being There are many clear cases, so precise measurement isn't always necessary. But there are many unclear cases. So, even if the inability to measure well-being is not a fatal strike against consequentialism, it is still a serious problem.

  10. Difficulty 2: Motivation Similar to the "paradox of hedonism": The more you consciously aim to achieve your own happiness, the less likely you'll succeed. "Having only a single motive -- producing the greatest good for the greatest number -- would almost certainly backfire."

  11. Decision Procedure ≠ Standard of Right Action Decision procedure: A consciously employed method for guiding decisions.

  12. Decision Procedure ≠ Standard of Right Action Standard of Right Action: A principle that tells us what makes actions morally right. Need not be part of the conscious decision-making process.

  13. Difficulty 2: Motivation Consequentialism does not require that you consciously aim at maximizing well-being. It only requires that your actions do maximize well-being, whether you intended or not.

  14. Difficulty 3: No Room for Supererogation Our intuitions: PROHIBITED PERMISSIBLE REQUIRED SUPEREROGATORY Consequentialism: PROHIBITED REQUIRED

  15. Difficulty 3: No Room for Supererogation 1. To perform a "supererogatory" action, you must go "beyond the call of duty." 2. Consequentialism always requires that you perform the very best action possible. 3. Therefore, supererogatory actions are impossible according to consequentialism.

  16. Difficulty 3: No Room for Supererogation Consequentialists can "bite the bullet" and admit that morality can, in many situations, require great sacrifice. "That it threatens the status quo and challenges the comforts of the well-off may be a mark of its truth, rather than its falsity."

  17. Difficulty 4: No Intrinsic Rightness/Wrongness Nothing inherently wrong with murder, rape, dishonesty, etc. They tend to be wrong in most real-world situations because they tend to produce bad results. And when they would produce the best results, these actions are therefore required.

  18. Difficulty 4: No Intrinsic Rightness/Wrongness In other words, consequentialism makes no room for justice.

  19. Difficulty 4: No Intrinsic Rightness/Wrongness well-being justice results impartiality "A plausible moral theory has to give justice the importance that it deserves. It's not clear that [consequentialism] can do this."

  20. Difficulty 5: Impartiality Impartiality is both a strength and a liability. On the one hand, counting everyone the same seems right and can improve the status quo. On the other hand, we tend to think that morality should sometimes require partiality.

  21. Difficulty 5: Impartiality

  22. Difficulty 5: Impartiality Consequentialism will often require that we focus on friends, family, and those near and dear; but only because doing so tends to produce better results. More often than we would like, consequentialism will prohibit this, and that is a serious problem.

  23. Consequentialism 2.0: Rule Consequentialism An action is right just because it is required by an optimific social rule. Optimific social rule: If everyone in a society were to accept it and act on it, then the results would be optimific.

  24. Consequentialism 2.0: Rule Consequentialism Under rule consequentialism, not every action will be optimific. But a society that adopts rule consequentialism will produce better results overall than one that adopts act consequentialism.

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