PHIL 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Rule Utilitarianism
18 Jul 2016
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Utilitatiarinism: an action gets its moral values from its consequences. Not mysterious (nothing special or weird, not difficult to conceptualize) Everybody counts the same; no one is placed higher than someone else. Captures an important thread/strand of our moral thinking; seems intuitive. Ie. i choose to go to the dentist so my teeth don"t fall out. Sometimes it can be hard to see consequences. It appears the view would need to be tweaked. Issues of good intentions versus consequences on actions will reappear. This utilitarian doesn"t care about intention so much as consequence. Seems to deliver moral verdicts that clash with intuitive moral verdicts. Debt defaulter: don"t pay my mortgage, doesn"t hurt the bank nearly as much as me. Two artic explorers, only enough food for one, makes promise to pay for children"s college, survives, yet gives money to charity rather than paying for children"s education. Argues it is more than the overall view.
