PP217 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Rule Utilitarianism
Conclusions and reasons
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Conclusion: statement someone is trying to prove true (claim/position)
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Argument: a set of reasons given in support of a claim
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Arguments and conclusions are not the same thing- an argument is the set of
reasons given for accepting a conclusion, the conclusion to an argument is what
it aims to prove
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A conclusion can be true even if an argument is not sound, but if an argument is
sound, the conclusion must true
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You need to attack the arguments, not the conclusion
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Normative questions: about what ought to be done, what s right
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Descriptive questions: what is understood to be right or valuable
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Good: something that is of value
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Instrumental good: good that is of value because it aids our pursuit of other
goods
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Intrinsic good: we value for its own sake
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Guides to action: make claims that indicate the moral constraints on action
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According to utilitarianism/consequentialism one ought to maximize the
amount of whatever is good, obligation depends on value
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For a rule utilitarian, actions must conform to a rule, and the rule must conform
to the principle of utility
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Teleological theory of obligation: one obligation-maximize the good
consequences and minimize the bad
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Rule utilitarianism: an act is morally right if it conforms with a set of rules whose
general observance would maximize utility
Arguments, Ethical Theory and Utilitarianism
Friday, May 11, 2018
10:19 AM
