PHIL 1550 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Consequentialism, Katgames
10 Sep 2015
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Good and bad: these terms are agent-neutral, independent about judgements of right and wrong, objective or agent-neutral means unbiased, coming from a rational perspective. Judgement about good or bad consequences is independent of whether it is right or wrong: good maximizes ability to extend will, bad harms that, right and wrong are determined to whether good is maximized. Expected consequences: an action is right if and only if nothing the agent could do would have better results , actions are chosen based on expected consequences. Total or net well-being or happiness is the sum of the happiness or unhappiness of an individual. Consequentialism in practice: following secondary moral rules is better than evaluating each action on a case by case basis, utilitarians believe that telling the truth and keeping promises is supports main principle. Objections to consequentialism: general objection: consequentialism will condone or require immoral conduct.
