PHIL 320A Lecture 44: PHIL-320A,University of Arizona,TextbookReadings(p44)

• School: University of Arizona
• Department: Philosophy Main
• Course: PHIL 320A
• Professor: All

Document Summary

Moral institutions constrain the good"s pursuit because the good is pursued by individuals. Put individuals in a position to pursue the good in a manner conducive to the good"s production in general. Institutions have a moral mandate to serve the common good that does not translate (or collapse) into a mandate for ordinary moral agents to maximize utility. It asks us to show respect for existing customs and institutional arrangements that truly have utility. Institutions carry out their mandate to prevent harm precisely by imposing constraints against causing harm. Positive duties to prevent harm and negative duties not to cause harm are not symmetrical. If we as a society have duties to prevent arm twisting, we are meeting those obligations when we create institutions that effectively prohibit arm twisting. Structurally embedded constraints against causing harm can be grounded in an institutional obligation to prevent harm. It seems inescapable that emergencies and chronic problems are two different things.