Internet Encyclopedia of Philisophy: Consequentialism. Arguably consequentialism is implicit in the very familiar conception of morality, shared by many cultures and traditions, which holds that moral perfection means loving all people, loving others as we love ourselves. (2010). protracted and demanding reflection: don't kill, don't steal, be honest, etc; these enable us to act efficiently in everyday life. For example, if someone commits a crime out of necessity rather than greed, their punishment may differ significantly from another criminal whose motivations were purely selfish and maliciously intended. Copyright 2023 Helpful Professor. This made the world feel like a smaller place as you could instantly talk to anyone anywhere in realtime. (From 1 and 2), An action is good insofar as its consequences include the satisfaction of desire. while it sounds attractive in theory, its a very difficult system to apply to real life moral decisions because: every moral decision is a completely separate case that must be fully evaluated, individuals must research the consequences of their acts before they can make an ethically sound choice, doing such research is often impracticable, and too costly, the time taken by such research leads to slow decision-making which may itself have bad consequences, and the bad consequences of delay may outweigh the good consequences of making a perfect decision, but where a very serious moral choice has to be made, or in unusual circumstances, individuals may well think hard about the consequences of particular moral choices in this way, some people argue that if everyone adopted act consequentialism it would have bad consequences for society in general, this is because it would be difficult to predict the moral decisions that other people would make, and this would lead to great uncertainty about how they would behave, some philosophers also think that it would lead to a collapse of mutual trust in society, as many would fear that prejudice or bias towards family or other groups would more strongly influence moral decisions than if people used general moral rules based on consequentialism, fortunately the impracticality of act consequentialism as a general moral process means we don't have to worry much about this, Whether acts are good or bad depends on moral rules, Moral rules are chosen solely on the basis of their consequences, an act is right if and only if it results from the internalisation of a set of rules that would maximize good if the overwhelming majority of agents internalised this set of rules, Rule consequentialism gets round the practical problems of act consequentialism because the hard work has been done in deriving the rules; individuals don't generally have to carry out difficult research before they can take action, And because individuals can shortcut their moral decision-making they are much more likely to make decisions in a quick and timely way, Because rule consequentialism uses general rules it doesn't always produce the best result in individual cases, However, those in favour of it argue that it produces more good results considered over a long period than act consequentialism, One way of dealing with this problem - and one that people use all the time in everyday life - is to apply basic rules, together with a set of variations that cover a wide range of situations. Researchers identify many criticisms of consequentialism, such as its lack of consideration for individual rights, reliance on calculation and prediction, and failure to consider certain values, such as justice or fairness. That is called 'rule consequentialism'. Suppose you are on average just as happy as I am, but you live twice as long. Perhaps the most standard precise version of consequentialism is Plain Consequentialism. People too pass away, and planets evaporate. The purpose of this study was to examine everyday life situations in which mothers encounter difficulties encouraging healthy energy balance-related behavior in their school-age children. Now, if you are the sort of person who actually would send money to save distant strangers, anything that cripples your efforts will hurt many people. Consequentialism can be broken down into two core beliefs: Today, consequentialism has many different forms from utilitarianism to rule consequentialism and has been applied in various contexts, from business decisions to criminal justice. Now, rationality and objectivity are impartial; they do not favor one person over another. In Section 4 we shall return to more complex reasons to think consequentialism is true and some worries about those reasons. The Consequentialist Framework In the Consequentialist framework, we focus on the future effects of the possible courses of action, considering the people who will be directly or indirectly affected. For example, one important implication of the fact that my speedometers hand is below the 55 is that I am going slower than 55. The participants were mothers of Dutch, Turkish, or . Finally, some argue that consequentialism fails to consider certain values, such as justice or fairness when determining the morality of an action (Stubbs, 1981). An example of consequentialism is the utilitarian theory. "Many people can incorporate altruism into their everyday life with small acts of kindness," says Myszak. In other words, one must ask whether the action promotes benefit overall. Examples of how Everyday Life Situations were Formulated by the Social Negative consequentialists focus exclusively on avoiding unfavorable outcomes when evaluating decisions or behaviors (Scheffler, 2009). Why would two-level consequentialists punish only the guilty? "You are not acting your age." "That was unprofessional behavior.". Hedonism is the view that one's well-being is determined by the balance of one's positive and negative conscious experiences. Plain Consequentialism is a theory about which actions are right. Instead they use ethical rules that are derived from considering the general consequences of particular types of acts. A Brief Introduction to Consequentialism Ethics - Benjamin Spall The term 'deontology' originates from the Greek words of 'deon', meaning duty, and 'logos', meaning science or the study of. Another worry is that it is obscure whether there is anything sensible that might be meant by a greater or lesser amount of satisfaction of desire. Are all desires to count or only those that exist at the time of the action or the decision (even if they disappear before most of the consequences arrive)? Hence Consequentialism is true. Or suppose you are unhappy instead: on average just as unhappy as I am happy and for the same amount of time. (But see Tnnsj (1988), 41ff.) Suppose that by killing X, an entirely innocent person, we can save the lives of 10 other innocent people, A consequentialist would say that killing X is justified because it would result in only 1 person dying, rather than 10 people dying, It seems sensible to base ethics on producing happiness and reducing unhappiness, It seems sensible to base ethics on the consequences of what we do, since we usually take decisions about what to do by considering what results will be produced. If we try to produce the greatest total benefit, then we are loving all people in the sense that we are being impartial, caring for people in general, promoting each persons well-being insofar as that is at stake in our actions and insofar as our helping one does not hurt others more. Utilitarianism | Definition, Philosophy, Examples, Ethics, Philosophers Stubbs, A. But the people who die in accidents were all going to die eventually anyway, so a fatal accident does not mean there are more deaths than there otherwise would have been. Consequentialism has many forms, including utilitarianism, hedonism, rule consequentialism, and many more, each emphasizing how to maximize net benefits or minimize harm. Adams, Robert M. Motive Utilitarianism., Bales, R. Eugene. Other versions of consequentialism may be generated by making small changes in this theory, as we shall see, so long as the new theory stays faithful to the broad idea that morality is all about producing the right kinds of overall consequences. But whatever a person does, she does in order to produce some sort of benefit. 1. The defender of Reasonable or Dual Consequentialism might argue that the objection has misunderstood what it is to have a reasonable estimate of an actions consequences. It has a moral sense and an objective sense. From utilitarianism and hedonism to egoism and act consequentialism, each form seeks to maximize the net benefits or minimize the harm caused by a decision or action. Look at any of the standard anti-consequentialist philosophical examples - trolley car, organ bank, . Utilitarian Morality and the Personal Point of View.. Generated with Avocode.Watch the Next Video Corporate Social Responsibility. Email: hainesw@hkucc.hku.hk But he remembers that stealing is generally regarded as wrong. The resulting confusion is defused by showing that whether Sen's CA . While consequentialism has been applied to many contexts, from animal testing to war, it has also faced criticism for its lack of consideration of individual rights, reliance on prediction and calculation, and failure to consider values such as justice or fairness. However, in support of consequentialism it might be argued that many of the things listed above do influence the good or bad consequences of an act, particularly when formulating ethical rules, and so they become incorporated in consequentialist ethical thinking; but only through the back door, not directly. Consequentialism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) how do you measure any 'subjective' quality? Utilitarianism - Introduction to Philosophy: Ethics Impartiality: The view that the identity of individuals is irrelevant to the moral value of an outcome. See Griffin (1986); Scanlon (1993). However, once one introduces such a complex standard of goodness for consequences, questions arise as to how to rate the relative importance of the parts of the standard and about how such a view can be given theoretical elegance. I start with some easy examples. Now, 2 tells us that she is full of desires that conflict with each other. Concepts Unwrapped View All 36 short illustrated videos explain behavioral ethics concepts and basic ethics principles. So, an action may be deemed morally right even if it harms certain individuals or violates their rights as long as the overall outcome is beneficial. Consequentialism Summary & Theories - Study.com Perhaps our reason for each action is a combination of two things: the idea that the action will produce benefits and the idea that the action is morally permissiblethat it would not violate any principles of morality. So far as you can tell, heads and tails are equally likely, even if objectively there is a 100% chance of heads. A great example of this would be at the beginning of . It was reasonable for him to rely on her imperfect judgment, even though neither of them knew quite what gold is. (Premise), One ought always to choose an action whose overall consequences are at least as good as the overall consequences of any of the alternative actions; in other words, consequentialism is true. Decision-Theoretic Consequentialism and the Nearest and Dearest Objection., Jackson, Frank, and Pargetter, Robert. BBC - Ethics - Introduction to ethics: Consequentialism An example could be taking away someones freedom due to suspected terrorist activities. For if we can minimize the total amount of meddling in the long run by meddling today (perhaps by spying on terrorism suspects or by privately bombing the citizens of aggressive countries), this new theory tells us to do so. Consequentialist vs. non-consequentialist theories of ethics There are two broad categories of ethical theories concerning the source of value: consequentialist and non-consequentialist. (i) The objectively right action is the action with the best consequences, and (ii) the morally right action is any action one reasonably estimates to be objectively right. 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. Presumably the stronger desires are to count for more. We feel we are obliged to carry out an action from a moral or legal standpoint. An action can show what kind of person I am even if it does not make me be that kind of person. Consequentialism is one of three thories of normative ethics, alongside virtue ethics and deontology. For example, perhaps we can do the most good overall if we forcibly stop people from wasting their time and energy on pointless or harmful things like driving SUVs, watching television, eating meat, following sports, and so on. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2 Read more. Respect The Elders. Perhaps most consequences of most actions we decide on are like that: not actual outcomes, but only probabilities of outcomes. morecambe fc owners examples of moral decisions in everyday life. how do you compare a large quantity of happiness that lasts for a few minutes with a gentle satisfaction that lasts for years? At such times we might overlook the fact that the aspects of morality that we agree on as obvious cover so much territory that they sketch the basic shape of civilized life. Philosophy Essays - Consequentialism Criminal Justice Amartya Sen defends the capability approach (CA) and the "discipline of consequential evaluation" which suggests that his CA is consistent with some form of "consequentialism". One worry about this shorter argument is that Premise 2 may be false. See Mill (1859). (From 1 and 3), The right action is the one that objectively ought to happen. PDF RULE CONSEQUENTIALISM - Arizona State University 30 videos - one minute each - introduce newsworthy scandals with ethical insights and case studies. Should it count if it is based on a factual mistake or if it is malicious? And it is commonly thought that the main kinds of actions that can be morally right or wrong are intentional actionsthings we do deliberately, not things like hiccups or small twitches. (Premise), An all-knowing impartial being would, overall, wish for the greatest possible balance of satisfaction of the desires of all people. Lying is considered wrong, even if it is to benefit or bring about better consequences. 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. Continued deception about a serious matter is difficult, so at the outset you must take into account the chance that you will fail or give up. Consequentialism and the Law in Medicine - Oxford Academic So Expectable Consequentialism says my thoughtless selfish action was morally right. Now, different kinds of benefits yield different kinds of reasons. For example, suppose there is a machine that tosses a fair coin with such precision that whenever you press the Toss button, the coin always comes up heads. Hedonism, on the other hand, says something is good if the consequence produces pleasure or avoids pain. So if consequentialism agrees with common sense, that agreement is some reason to think that consequentialism is true. On the contrary, if you think in the inhuman way described in the objection, your plans and your relationships are unlikely to go well, so Plain versions of consequentialism tend to oppose that way of thinking. One worry about the above argument is that its initial premise may be false. (From 7, crossing for you out of both sides of the equation), An action is good insofar as its overall consequences contain happiness. The Schizophrenia of Modern Ethical Theories., Taurek, John. Simple forms of consequentialism say that the best action is the one that produces the largest total of happiness. Consequentialism and Criminal Justice Practice. As Brad Hooker, the world's leading rule consequentialist, argues, rule consequentialism is not plausibly motivated by a consequentialist commitment to outcomes being as good as possible: the case for rule consequentialism is instead that it impartially justifies intuitively plausible moral rules. But if quantity of life were the only kind of good result, then a long happy life would be no better than a long unhappy life. The theoretical world of entrepreneurship. Actions that promote egalitarian institutions, then, would tend to do the most good overall. See Sen (1982), Nagel (1986), Scheffler (1994), Bennett (1989), Scheffler (1989), Brink (1986), and Skorupski (1995). Foot (1967). One could produce more overall happiness in the world by doing charity work tomorrow than by watching television all day tomorrow. For example, it can be formulated in terms of the good that actually results from rules or in terms of the rationally expected good of the consequences of rules . Here are two simple examples of such theories: Egoistic Consequentialism: Of all the things a person might do at any given moment, the morally right action is the one that has the best consequences for that person. One key theory is consequentialism, which says that an individual's correct moral response is related to the outcome/ consequence of the act and not its intentions/ motives. A Relatively Plausible Principle of Beneficence: Reply to Mulgan., Norcross, Alastair. One is normally not even choosing the reasonably expectable consequences, because one has not formed any expectation about the actions likely overall consequences. Hedonism is a form of consequentialism that approves of actions that produce pleasure and avoid pain. It is unclear, then, whether the standard to which we should hold theories of morality is that they must explain why morality is easy to know about or why morality is terribly hard to know about! The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Oxford: Oxford University Press. And perhaps that is why common sense favors some partiality. One possible reply to this argument against consequentialism is that even if good overall consequences turns out to be meaningless, one might still think, for example, that the right action is the one that causes the most happiness. There are more versions of consequentialism than are presented above. One reply to this objection is that since you know better how to help yourself and those near to you, you will get better results if you focus on them rather than people strange to you or out of view. examples of moral decisions in everyday life 4 Virtue Ethics Examples in Real Life - StudiousGuy The "standard" Jehovah's Witness case Understanding Background The Patient's Perspective The Doctor's Perspective Trustworthiness Compassion Discernment Conclusion Case 2. Second, more concretely, to be moral is to care about people. It may be a short-run benefit or a long-run benefit. 3 The version most relevant to law, rule consequentialism, evaluates legal rules solely based on their consequences.Legal rules, on this view, may (or must) go into effect if and only if . Eight short videos present the 7 principles of values-driven leadership from Gentile's Giving Voice to Values. After a chapter or two I started to realize all of the similarities between my life as a high school student and Melinda's in Speak. 7 Examples of Utilitarianism in Real Life - The Boffins Portal However, when judging the idea solely on its results, as classic consequentialism does, then the end justifies the means.. One worry about the above argument is that it is not clear why we should think Premise 1 is true. Note that if what matters is the total amount, then it does not matter whether the happiness belongs to you or your friend or a strangeror even a dog, if dogs can have happiness. It emphasizes the importance of outcomes in determining the morality of an action rather than relying on predetermined moral principles or personal beliefs. But if everyone hauled their garbage a few miles to the dump instead, in a year or two everyone would have a nice river, which is much more valuable to each person than the minor convenience of not having to haul ones garbage to the dump. Consequentialism says you should do this; but moral common sense says that you should not.