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Eventually you decide to toss the coin, you win, and I bake the cake. Further, institutions that secure basic external equalities, or that aim to protect whoever is poorest and weakest, tend to give everyone more security. Hence it would be misleading to say that consequentialism is the view that morality is all about results. 8 yr. ago What if I told you Kantians are also concerned about the consequences of their actions? Rule Consequentialism: An action is morally right if and only if it does not violate the set of rules of behavior whose general acceptance in the community would have the best consequencesthat is, at least as good as any rival set of rules or no rules at all. The Theory of Utilitarianism Explained With Examples 4 Virtue Ethics Examples in Real Life - StudiousGuy Telephone services were more or less global by the early 20th century. Consequentialism | Psychology Wiki | Fandom Here the phrase overall consequences of an action means everything the action brings about, including the action itself. Decision-Theoretic Consequentialism and the Nearest and Dearest Objection., Jackson, Frank, and Pargetter, Robert. What Is Altruism? Examples and Types of Altruistic Behavior - Psych Central Thus, on a consequentialist account, a morally right action is an action which produces good consequences. Consequentialism's underlying moral framework assumes that good outcomes are preferable to bad ones; that happiness is preferable to pain, and that consequences should be measured accordingly. Further, if you have a big secret that would repel nice honest people, any nice honest person who learns your secret will not want to be your friend. Ideal code, real world: A rule-consequentialist theory of morality. Suppose someone from Tuberculosis Aid comes to my door, says only, Would you give to Tuberculosis Aid? and hands me a pamphlet, which explains their evil plans on page 2. For instance, consequentialist theories are often cited when discussing the morality of euthanasia, capital punishment, and animal testing. Sharp criticisms of laissez-faire capitalism and militarism sit side-by-side with denouncements of . Therefore, it is important to account for the moral agent's community or communities within which she operates. Further, it is important that people be free to make decisions for themselves, even poor decisions, because that is the only way that people develop strength of character and because constant experimentation is the only way humanity learns about the various possibilities of life. A billionaire needs an organ transplant. examples of moral decisions in everyday life. But common sense may rebel against that idea as being unfair or unjust. Or suppose the recommendation that comes from you friend, your mother, your heart, or your prior resolution, reflects insight into the implications of your action that would not be reflected in the conscious estimates of consequences you might be able to work up on the spur of the moment. It differs from utilitarianism in focusing more on individual pleasure than collective good (Scheffler, 2009). See Campbell and Sowden (1985). Or suppose you are on average twice as happy as I am, and we live equally long. 5 Examples of How Sociology Impacts Everyday Life | JWU CPS Double Consequentialism says his choice is morally right, even though his decision was not based on estimates of consequences and went against his estimates. It was reasonable for him to rely on her imperfect judgment, even though neither of them knew quite what gold is. (From 4 and 5), What objectively ought to happen, what is objectively desirable, is whatever would be wished for by a spectator with full knowledge and no bias; that is, someone who knows everything and is equally sympathetic with everyone. Consequentialism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Photo: Liz Fagoli, We cannot predict every outcome of an event. Plain Consequentialism: Of all the things a person might do at any given moment, the morally right action is the one with the best overall consequences. In other words, ethical judgments should be based on the outcome or consequence of a particular course of action rather than on ones intentions or beliefs. by Jason Blakely December 02, 2020. The history of utilitarianism. how do you compare a large quantity of happiness that lasts for a few minutes with a gentle satisfaction that lasts for years? For example, lets suppose economists could prove that the world economy would be stronger, and that most people would be happier, healthier, and wealthier, if we just enslaved 2% of the population. Now, one reply to the extreme examples is that such opportunities are extremely unusual. Hence consequentialism conflicts with common sense. So far as you can tell, heads and tails are equally likely, even if objectively there is a 100% chance of heads. Parental support is an important element in overweight prevention programs for children. Your focus must be on the actions taken instead of the results achieved. A worry about this line of thought is that if there were some simple theory like consequentialism that captured what morality is about, one might think that we would have recognized it long ago. (For more discussion of consequentialism, see the consequentialism section of the article Ethics.). Philosophers express this with greater precision: An action is morally right if and only if it does not violate the set of rules of behaviour whose general acceptance in the community would have the best consequences--that is, at least as good as any rival set of rules or no rules at all. Reasonable Consequentialism may be too simple. But you might think that whether my action was morally wrong depends on what consequences it would have been reasonable for me to expect, not on the actual consequences. One is normally not even choosing the reasonably expectable consequences, because one has not formed any expectation about the actions likely overall consequences. Of course, once one introduces such a complex standard of goodness for consequences, questions arise about how to rate the relative importance of the parts of the standard and about how such a view can be given theoretical elegance. Consequentialism and Environmental Ethics can be read as an attempt to correct this misunderstanding.