Consequentialism - Lecture notes 1 PDF

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CONSEQUENTIALISMWritten ReportBSBA-MM 1-2NAivie BergantinosPhilip CezarJoshua Lacap Kyla Marie Antoinette LlegadoJustine MendezNoriel Rose OngKhen RedoblesAila Marie RentosaApryl Joy UgdaminaRoja Aurora VilarConsequentialism A Normative Ethics. (Systematic investigation of moral standards (norms an...

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CONSEQUENTIALISM Written Report

BSBA-MM 1-2N Aivie Bergantinos Philip Cezar Joshua Lacap Kyla Marie Antoinette Llegado Justine Mendez Noriel Rose Ong Khen Redobles Aila Marie Rentosa Apryl Joy Ugdamina Roja Aurora Vilar

Consequentialism 

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A Normative Ethics. (Systematic investigation of moral standards (norms and value) with the purpose of clarifying how they are to be understood, justified, interpreted and applied on moral issues –philosophers, theologicians. An action is the right thing to do in certain circumstances if, of all actions available in those circumstances, it would produce the best outcome. An action is completely determined by its consequences. It is measured on how much pleasure and pain it causes in the people affected. Technically, consequentialism says that the send does justify the mean.

The Beginnings G.E.M. Anscombe - coined the term "consequentialism" in 1958 in her essay "Moral Modern Philosophy." This theory's roots are in utilitarianism and since the 1960's, many writers have used the term "consequentialism" instead of "utilitarianism" for the view that the extent of the rightness of an action depends on the value of its consequences. Due to this distinction, utilitarianism is now used to describe different forms of consequentialism.

Jeremy Bentham -made popular the consequentialism in the 1700s and 1800s. Bentham’s theory is that the right action in any situation is the one that leads to “The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number.” He lived at a time of great political and social change and he wanted to create a moral theory that treated people equally without depending on religion. He believed that only pleasure is good in itself and only pain is bad in itself. For him, all human beings are ultimately motivated to pursue pleasure and to avoid pain.

John Stuart Mill – developed Bentham’s work. He was a consequentialist, but he thought that more good is for people than just pleasure and pain. He thought that a system of rights can be defended on a consequentialist ground. There are certain fundamental freedoms that will produce the best consequences to secure for everyone. _________________________________________________________________________ Example Scene: You are a doctor/nurse and you only have 5 tablets of medicine. There is someone that is dying and in need of 5 tablets. But then, another 5 patients arrived, and they only need 1 tablet each. In consequentialism, 5 tablets of medicine must be given to the 5 patients instead of 1. Because we look for greater pleasure for greater number.

Two Principles of Consequentialism 1. Whether an act is right or wrong depends only on the results of that act. 2. The more “good” that act produced, the better or more “moral” the act is.

Two Types of Consequentialism 1) Egoistic and particularistic consequentialism - One only takes place into consideration how the consequences of an act will affect oneself or a given group – ex. Ones family, fellow citizens/compatriots. Class or race. Moral rightness depends on the consequences for an individual agent or a limited group. 2) Universal Consequentialism - One takes into account how the consequences of an act will affect all the parties involved. Moral rightness depends on the consequences for all people or sentient beings.

Forms of Consequentialism Mohist Consequentialism Also known as state of consequentialism that is founded by Chinese Philisopher, Mozi. Advances actions that contribute much to the state is of the highest moral worth. Mohist believe that morality is based on promoting what is beneficial to all under heaven and eliminating what is harmful to all under heaven.

Hedonism -

Hedonism: One state of affair is better than another if and only if it involves the best overall distribution of pleasure and pain. Individualistic If combined with consequentialism: we get the view that we are morally obliged to do in every situation. We are morally obliged to pursue the course of action which will bring about the best overall distribution of pleasure and pain. (Hedonistic consequentialism)

Epicureanism Epicureanism bases its ethics on a hedonistic set of values. In the most basic sense, Epicureans see pleasure as the purpose of life. As evidence for this, Epicureans say that nature seems to command us to avoid pain, and they point out that all animals try to avoid pain as much as possible. Epicureans had a very specific understanding of what the greatest pleasure was, and the focus of their ethics was on the avoidance of pain rather than seeking out pleasure. Epicureanism bases its ethics on a hedonistic set of values. In the most basic sense, Epicureans see pleasure as the purpose of life. As evidence for this, Epicureans say that nature seems to command us to avoid pain, and they point out that all animals try to avoid pain as much as possible. Epicureans had a very specific understanding of what the greatest pleasure was, and the focus of their ethics was on the avoidance of pain rather than seeking out pleasure.

Utilitarianism - The only thing that has value are states of affairs. It denies the deontologist’s claim that some actions have inherent moral value- as required, forbidden etc.

- Action is the right thing to do in certain circumstances if it would produce the best overall distribution of pleasure and pain. The fundamental principle of utilitarianism is the principle of utility: the morally right action is the one that produces the best overall consequences with regards to the utility or welfare of all the affected parties. - Social. Agent Neutral Theory.

Rule Consequentialism -

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A form of utilitarianism that says an action is right if it follows the rule that leads to the greatest good or that the rightness or wrongness of a particular action is a function of the correctness of the rule that needs to be applied in a particular situation. We should work out a system of RULES for action which are simple and easy to follow. The right rules are those that will produce the greatest good if everybody follows them.

Maximizing and Satisficing Consequentialism MAXIMIZING FORMS OF CONSEQUENTIALISM - are thought to be overly demanding - if the right action for me to perform is the one among the options to me that produces the most good and if failure to produce the most good is therefore wrong, then many of our ordinary actions are wrong. For example, if I bought a cup of coffee at starbucks instead of making one at home, which is we all know is a lot cheaper than the first option, then I am spending money on Starbucks that I could be spending to do something else that, morally speaking, is better. I could use the money and send it to some foundations and help to save people's lives. - Thus, maximizing forms of consequentialism is thought to be overly demanding because it ought you to always make the action that will produces the most good or will benefit the many. - To avoid this problem, some consequentialists hold that the right action need not maximize the good but rather the one that will produce just enough good. And this is called, Satisficing Consequentialism. SATISFICING CONSEQUENTIALISM - However, this approach seems odd, since maximizing seems to be rationally required by the observation that more good is surely better than less good.

Applying Consequentialism Jeremy Bentham came up with seven principles to help us calculate the pleasure and pain resulting from our actions. 1. Intensity – How strong it is? 2. Duration – How long does it last? 3. Certainty - How sure are you that it will happen. 4. Purity – Will it lead to pain? 5. Fecundity – Will it lead to more pleasure? 6. Propinquity - How soon will it happen? 7. Extent – How many people will be affected?

Strengths And Weaknesses Strengths 

Humanistic. Consequentialism tries to bring about good effects for people – it is concerned with improving human lives. It does not try to derive its authority from some other sources but it lets us decide whether a law is itself good or bad.

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Unbiased or egalitarian. For consequentialist, each person counts equally in working out which action is right. Consequentialism can be good for the minorities in society whose interests are often forgotten or ignored by powerful people.

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Flexible. No situations are the same. It seems like common sense that an action might be right in one situation, but wrong in another. Example: Lying for your own benefit is wrong but lying to save a life could be right. This tells us how work out with things depends on the situation.

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You choose what is good. You can be like Bentham and think that pleasure is the only good, or you could think that there are lots of good or you could let each people decide what is good.

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Swine Ethic. For Bentham there is no action that are always wrong – even killing someone might be the right thing to do if it would save hundred more lives. This sometimes sounds plausible, but sometimes it does not. For example, a violent attack might be the right if the attacker gets more

Weaknesses

pleasure than the victim gets pain. Swine ethic meaning that it is for pig not for people. 

Too complicated. Consequentialism requires us to guess what all the consequences of our actions will be even far into the future.

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Over Demanding. Consequentialism says that we are just as responsible for a good thing that we could have brought about, but didn’t, as we are for a bad thing that we did.

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Incomparable goods. Consequentialism assumes that all the good and bad consequences of an action can be added up and compared with others.

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Epicureanism - http://people.loyno.edu/~folse/Epicurus.html Gamlund, Espen 2012. “Ethics”. University of Bergen. https://www.google.com/url? sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.uio.no/studier/emner/matnat/ifi/MNSES9100/v1 4/lectures/mnses-ethical-theorygamlund.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjurbXcyo_hAhUNzoUKHXnfDwgQFjAKegQIARAB&sqi=2&usg=AO vVaw3ibovynxs5sHGJpxCtKXFW Consequentialism - https://www.google.com/url? sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www3.nd.edu/~jspeaks/courses/2008-9/10100spring/_LECTURES/25consequentialism.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjurbXcyo_hAhUNzoUKHXnfDwgQFjAAegQIAhAB&sqi=2 &usg=AOvVaw0R2X6S5-5JeATc2VxNRyvf Ethics Bowl: Consequentialism - https://www.google.com/url? sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://a2ethics.org/sites/default/files/uploads/EthicsBowlConsequentialism.pptx&ved=2ahUKEwiHl7u7yo_hAhXZdXAKHeYACkoQFjABegQIBhAB&usg= AOvVaw1vIpPb5Tq4gwikyVu4kvLI...