PHI 2630 1st Edition Lecture 2 3 Outline of Last Lecture I Different Argument Structures and Fallacies Outline of Current Lecture I Normative Ethical Theories the branch of ethics concerned with giving a general account of what is right and what is wrong II Consequentialism a Utilitarianism b Perfectionist Consequentialism c Rule Consequentialism III Natural Law a Theory of Intrinsic Value b The Doctrine of Double Effect IV Kantian Moral Theory a Humanity Formulation b Universal Law Formulation V Rights Based Moral Theory VI Virtue Ethics VII Ethics of Prima Facie Duty a Ross s Theory of Intrinsic Value and Prima Facie Duties VIII Social Contract Theory a John Rawls s Theory Current Lecture I II Normative Ethics a Normative theories complete this bi conditional i An action is right wrong if and only if b Relativism i Morality is not absolute but rather exists in relation to culture society or historical content ii Descriptive 1 Bases claims off people s beliefs about morality iii Prescriptive 1 Prescribes how people ought to act Consequentialism These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute a Consequences of actions are all that matter in determining the rightness and wrongness of actions b Right actions are right if the overall intrinsic value of their consequences outweigh the overall intrinsic value of the consequences of alternative actions an agent might perform instead An action is right if and only if iff and because its consequences would be at least as good as the consequences of any alternative action that the agent might instead perform c No act is inherently wrong wrong in and of itself even murder There could always be situations where murder might bring about the best consequences available d Important Points i Value based consequentialism characterizes or defines a right action in terms of intrinsic value ii Alternative actions an agent is confronted by various alternative actions that he or she may choose to perform iii Comparative the rightness or wrongness of an action depends on how much intrinsic value it would likely produce compared to that of alternative actions iv Maximizing right actions are those whose consequences will have at least as much overall value as any other action v Impartial the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined in relation to the values of the action s consequences for everyone affected by the action where everyone affected counts equally e Example a runaway train is headed toward 5 people tied to the tracks who will all certainly die You are standing next to a lever that if pulled would send the train down another path where 1 person is tied In a strictly consequentialist approach it would be morally right to pull the lever and kill the 1 to save the 5 f Utilitarianism i Human welfare or happiness is intrinsically valuable The rightness or wrongness of actions depends solely on how the consequences affect welfare or happiness One must maximize the welfare or all individuals who will be affected either in the short term or the long term by the consequences of an action one will perform ii Utility the net value of the consequences of actions Can be negative iii Principle of utility an action is right iff and because it would if performed likely produce at least as high a utility as would any alternative action one might perform instead g How to define happiness i Value Hedonism only states of pleasure have intrinsic positive value and only states of pain have intrinsic negative value Everything else of value is of mere extrinsic value 1 Example any positive value that knowledge may have is extrinsic it is only of positive value when it contributes to bringing about what has intrinsic value namely pleasure or the alleviation of pain ii Hedonistic Utilitarianism an action is right iff and because it would likely produce if performed at least as high a net balance of pleasure or less pain as would any alternative action one might do instead iii It is possible to reject hedonism and still be a utilitarian one would just need to accept some other conception of happiness or welfare h Perfectionist Consequentialism 1 States of human perfection including knowledge and achievement have intrinsic value 2 An action is right iff and because it would if performed likely bring about a greater net balance of perfectionist goods than would any alternative action one might perform instead i Types of Act Consequentialism consequentialist principles that refer to particular concrete actions and their consequences i Utilitarianism ii Hedonistic Utilitarianism iii Perfectionist Consequentialism j Rule Consequentialism the view that the rightness or wrongness of an action depends on whether it is required permitted or prohibited by a rule whose consequences are best 1 First rules that require permit or prohibit various courses of action are evaluated by reference to the values of their consequences 2 Second a particular action is evaluated by determining whether it is required permitted or prohibited by a rule whose consequences are best 3 The way to evaluate whether a rule has consequences is to consider were people to accept the rule would it influence what they do The value associated with rules is their acceptance value 4 The morality of a particular action in some situation depends upon the acceptance values of various competing rules that are relevant to the situation in question 5 An action is right iff and because it is permitted by a rule whose associated acceptance value is at least as high as the acceptance value of any other rule applying to the situation 6 Example You promise to help a friend move on Friday You can show up and keep your promise or break it and do something else The following rules correspond to these actions whenever one makes a promise keep it whenever one makes a promise break it if one feels like it a It seems that acceptance of the first rule has a greater acceptance value than the latter III Natural Law Theory a There are objectively true moral principles that are grounded in human nature b Value based bases right action on considerations of intrinsic value c Theory of Intrinsic Value The Core of Natural Law Theory i There are 4 basic intrinsic goods 1 Human life IV 2 Human procreation which includes raising children 3 Human knowledge 4 Human sociability associations and bonds with others ii Each of these
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