PHI 2630 1st Edition Lecture 2-3Outline of Last Lecture I. Different Argument Structures and FallaciesOutline 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. Consequentialisma. Utilitarianismb. Perfectionist Consequentialismc. Rule ConsequentialismIII. Natural Lawa. Theory of Intrinsic Valueb. The Doctrine of Double EffectIV. Kantian Moral Theorya. Humanity Formulationb. Universal Law FormulationV. Rights-Based Moral TheoryVI. Virtue EthicsVII. Ethics of Prima Facie Dutya. Ross’s Theory of Intrinsic Value and Prima Facie DutiesVIII. Social Contract Theorya. John Rawls’s TheoryCurrent LectureI. Normative Ethicsa. Normative theories complete this bi-conditionali. An action is right/wrong if and only if ________.b. Relativismi. Morality is not absolute but rather exists in relation to culture, society, or historical content.ii. Descriptive1. Bases claims off people’s beliefs about morality.iii. Prescriptive1. Prescribes how people ought to act.II. ConsequentialismThese 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 performinstead. 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 Pointsi. Value-based: consequentialism characterizes or defines a right action in terms ofintrinsic 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. Utilitarianismi. Human welfare or happiness is intrinsically valuable. The rightness or wrongnessof 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 toaccept some other conception of happiness or welfare.h. Perfectionist Consequentialism1. States of human perfection, including knowledge and achievement, haveintrinsic 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. Utilitarianismii. Hedonistic Utilitarianismiii. Perfectionist Consequentialismj. 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 consequences2. 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, keepit; 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 Theorya. 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 Theoryi. There are 4 basic intrinsic goods 1. Human life2. Human
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