Consequentialism and Criminal Justice Practice. On this view, a problem with setting a very high speed limit is that it causes early deaths, which reduce the amount of life and thus reduce the amount of happiness there will be. 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. Moral Philosophy studies what is right and wrong, and related philosophical issues. 3 says that she has another desirethe desire that all her other desires be fulfilled as much as possible. So, they agree that consequentialism is true. The theoretical world of entrepreneurship. This makes the crime much, much worse. A second worry is that premise (1) may not support statement (2). Reviewers ensure all content reflects expert academic consensus and is backed up with reference to academic studies. how do you compare a large quantity of happiness that lasts for a few minutes with a gentle satisfaction that lasts for years? Yet prominent commentators suggest or imply that Sen's CA is not "consequentialist". Continued difficult deception uses up mental resources. Anyone who stops to calculate consequences before taking any step to fulfill a commitment is not a person of integrity. Another worry about the above argument is that it presupposes that the notion of overall benefit makes sense. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education and holds a PhD in Education from ACU. Some others are presented below, and anyone can invent new ones by following the instructions given in section 1a. For example, if stealing food feeds your starving family, a consequentialist would say it is the right thing to do. 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. (Or perhaps you do not even know that it is a precision machine.) Utilitarianism Meaning. What is good is happinessand whatever promotes that. Goodness and Utilitarianism., Williams, Bernard. It looks at scenarios where individuals actions are motivated by the desire to benefit others rather than themselves and places value in those acts regardless of their outcome or consequence (Scheffler, 2009). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Further, if you have a big secret that would repel nice honest people, any nice honest person who learns your secret will not want to be your friend. One-of-a-kind videos highlight the ethical aspects of current and historical subjects. See Mill (1859). For purposes of Expectable Consequentialism, a 50% epistemic chance of a good result is half as good as a 100% probability of that same result. But Expectable Consequentialism has a strange implication. Where Dual Consequentialism had said that the morally right action is any action with the best reasonably expected consequences, Double Consequentialism says the morally right action is the action one reasonably estimates to be objectively right. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that suggests that the best actions are those that maximize utility. Of course, once one introduces such a complex standard of goodness for consequences, questions arise about how to rate the relative importance of the parts of the standard and about how such a view can be given theoretical elegance. Famine, Affluence, and Morality., Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter. Although the majority of people would benefit from this idea, most would never agree to it. That does not mean consequentialism tells you to leave me entirely alone. (Before explaining this point, we should note that consequentialism on most versions is a theory about the moral quality of actions. Of course, we cannot know the overall consequences of our actions. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3750884. For example, people often procrastinate from laziness or fear, knowing that they are hurting themselves in the long run. In practice people don't assess the ethical consequences of every single act (that's called 'act consequentialism') because they don't have the time. For consequentialism, the simplest way to conceive of the goodness of consequences is in terms of how much they contain of something that is considered good, such as happiness or personal well-being, regardless of who gets it. 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. The net outcome or consequence of this decision would be the time saved in taking the Uber, versus the cost and potential environmental impact of taking a car. People disagree with each other about the morality of using human embryos for stem cell research, downloading copyrighted music, giving little to the poor, eating animals, having certain kinds of sex, and many other things. Plain Scalar Consequentialism is different. But whatever a person does, she does in order to produce some sort of benefit. One example of consequentialism would be praising a burglar who accidentally robs a crime lord. For another example, one important implication of an action I take may be that I (already) am a certain kind of person. Two examples of consequentialism are utilitarianism and hedonism. Ideal code, real world: A rule-consequentialist theory of morality. Another way of replying to the objection is to propose yet another version of consequentialism. See Bentham (1789); Den Uyl & Machan (1983). And if you are a skilled surgeon, anything that hampers your operations will hurt people. If the greatest total can be created only by exploiting the miserable to make the happy even happier, then such consequentialism would seem to say that you should do it. That is, if As consequences are a little better than Bs, then A is morally a little better than B; and if As consequences are much better than Cs, then A is morally much better than C. This theory implies that the actions with the best consequences are morally best, but it does not say that if you do the second-best you are doing something morally wrong. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. Therefore, an action is rationally justifiable insofar as it does good overall. (From 2 and 3), In choosing an action, one is choosing its whole set of consequences. For example, lying may be considered acceptable if it leads to a positive outcome, such as saving someone's life. For example, this could be in times of war or a financial crash. Generated with Avocode.Watch the Next Video Corporate Social Responsibility. Hence in the context of consequentialism, perhaps actions should normally be understood to mean intentional actions.) Suppose I will bake a cake if you win a coin toss, and you are now deciding whether to toss the coin or just walk away. For if good consequences is meaningless, then it cannot be correct to define right action in terms of good consequences, as consequentialism normally does. In Section 3 we shall discuss reasons to think consequentialism is false and some worries about those reasons. Many ethical issues are of this sort. Unhappiness can be thought of as negative happiness, so that the total happiness we two have in this third case is zero. 1. Bufacchi, V. (2009). Forming many romantic attachments hardly seems like the path toward perfection; nor perhaps does the widespread spiritual exercise of focusing on wishing people well without actually helping them. In economics, utility is the pleasure or satisfaction that people derive from consuming a product or service. The pros and cons of consequentialism. Consequentialism. The Schizophrenia of Modern Ethical Theories., Taurek, John. Giving him the next available organ means Mr X, who was top of the list, will die - but it also means that thousands of people will be very happy with their new hips. (From 1 and 2), An action is good insofar as its consequences include the satisfaction of desire. For example, if eating a certain food will bring an individual pleasure but harm others, it is considered moral according to this theory. When you press Toss, your action will have heads as a consequence, but you do not know that. It suggests two distinct levels when assessing whether an action is morally permissible its immediate effects (rule) and long-term impact (state) (Goodman, 2017). Utilitarian Morality and the Personal Point of View.. Consequentialism is a broad school of ethical theory. Pleasures pass by as quickly as actions. BBC 2014 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Should a desire count for more if it is held for a longer time? Perhaps an easier way to be free of bias is to have no sympathy for anyone. Now in one sense your prescription was wrong, but in another sense it was morally right. Decision-Theoretic Consequentialism and the Nearest and Dearest Objection., Jackson, Frank, and Pargetter, Robert. Hence good seems not to have a meaning in that context. Consequentialist vs. non-consequentialist theories of ethics There are two broad categories of ethical theories concerning the source of value: consequentialist and non-consequentialist. For example, if a certain action would be good for the bank account but bad for the health, there is a financial reason for it and a health reason against it. Some people will be punished perhaps unfairly, but in total, less people will break the law, so the harshness of the punishment is justified. If every action is taken to produce some benefit, that shows only that the benefit is part of the reason for every action, not that the benefit is the whole reason. The Teleological Ethical Theories are also concerned about the consequences of actions talking about the choice of right or wrong based on the good or bad effects it generates. The Consequentialist Perspective. In, Railton, Peter. (From 2), What objectively ought to happen is whatever would promote the greatest possible balance of satisfaction of the desires of all people. Before we check out these examples, you should note that a utilitarian considers all people to be of equal value to society. Hence consequentialism conflicts with common sense. Sen, Amartya, and Williams, Bernard, eds. It is the only moral framework that can be used to justify military force or war. This controversial line of thought is not only an objection to the above argument for consequentialism, it is also an argument against consequentialism. See Singer (1977); Norcross (1997). See Geach (1956); Foot (1985); Thomson (1993). Triage rules are potentially justified by a form of rule utilitarianism that enables rapid intuitive decisions. The result justifies the means are based on a consequentialism. Your focus must be on the actions taken instead of the results achieved. Consequentialism refers to those moral theories that hold that the consequences of a particular action form the basis for any valid moral judgement about that action. Although those three views disagree about which kinds of consequences matter, they agree that consequences are all that matters. The remaining arguments for consequentialism given here, like the argument from love, do not speak merely of good consequences overall. Rather they defend consequentialism by defending the importance of some particular kind of consequence, such as happiness, the satisfaction of desire, or the well-being of people. For all these reasons it would seem that even a consequentialism that impartially counts each persons happiness or well-being as being of equal value would advise each of us to be somewhat partial to herself and those near to her, because in that way she can produce the best impartial results. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Hence, arguably, the consequence of your intentional action was a 50% chance of a cakenot a cake, not half a cake, but a 50% chance of a cake. In one sense if can be argued that the practice of theory of consequentialism has practical value and application in criminal justice. 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. Consequentialism might be used to argue that Mr X's human rights (and his and his family's happiness) should be ignored, in order to increase the overall amount of human well-being. (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. The concept of consequentialism has been widely discussed in philosophical circles for centuries, and its implications are far-reaching. Further, institutions that secure basic external equalities, or that aim to protect whoever is poorest and weakest, tend to give everyone more security. You cannot know all that before you act (or after). 10 Reasonable Consequentialism says that for an action of mine to be right, I must actually come to a reasonable conclusion beforehand about the consequences. Here are three examples of consequentialism ethics playing out in three very different areas: Baby Hitler If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it? This course of action is justified only if their actions can be proven to be a threat to society, regardless of their intentions or potential benefits. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Consequentialism. Simple forms of consequentialism say that the best action is the one that produces the largest total of happiness. An action that brings about more benefit than harm is good, while an action that causes more harm than benefit is not. Since Double Consequentialism does not imply that you should estimate the consequences of your everyday actions, it seems to escape the objection that consequentialism requires inhuman and immoral thinking. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy gives a plain and simple definition of consequentialism: Of all the things a person might do at any given moment, the morally right action is the one with the best overall consequences. C4.P18 However, at times, these . The moral philosophy behind deontological ethics suggests that each person has a duty to always do the right thing. Its standard is high. But he remembers that stealing is generally regarded as wrong. Dr. Drew has published over 20 academic articles in scholarly journals. This moral theory deals with the rightness and wrongness of actions, which . 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. But the pill turns out to harm me, because I have a rare and previously unknown virus. Many of our actions are aimed at developing skill. Stubbs, A. (2021). This point can be expressed by saying that there is a 50% epistemic probability of heads, or that the reasonably expectable consequences of pushing the Toss button include a 50% epistemic chance of heads. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so. Scheffler, S. (2009). Even in mathematics, crossing the same thing out of both sides of a true equation does not always yield a new true equation. Another example of ethical egoism would be a person who invites a friend to a movie that she wants to . Today, consequentialism has many different forms developed over the years. An example of Consequentialism would be deciding whether or not to take an Uber to the airport instead of driving yourself. So the total happiness we had is three times the happiness I had. "Many people can incorporate altruism into their everyday life with small acts of kindness," says Myszak. examples of moral decisions in everyday life. Finally, some argue that consequentialism fails to consider certain values, such as justice or fairness when determining the morality of an action (Stubbs, 1981). Further, your ability to think well and act effectively depends in many ways on your having strong relationships with a few people near to you, so that your spending a bit of time or money on these people not only gives them directly a bit of help or happiness, it also indirectly supports all your other projects now and in the future. Consequentialism says you should do this; but moral common sense says that you should not. However, employers may have rules that leave no room for judgment on consequences for violations of the ethics code. See Brandt (1979); Hooker et al (2000). What matters is the total amount, not who gets what. One criticism of consequentialism is that it ignores individual rights in favor of collective outcomes (McElwee, 2010). Is that point an objection to consequentialism? (Boxing makes me worse at the piano.) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. For example, if you think that the whole point of morality is (a) to spread happiness and relieve suffering, or (b) to create as much freedom as possible in the world, or (c) to promote the survival of our species, then you accept consequentialism. Get custom essays. Reasonable Consequentialism may be too simple. The reasonable way to estimate consequences would involve at least glancing through the pamphlet, but I am not interested. An example of ethical egoism would be a person who owes money to a friend and decides to pay the friend back not because that person owes money, but because it is in his best interest to pay his friend back so that he does not lose his friend. For example, the setting of a speed limit will help some people and hurt others, but there is no way to know in advance who the people will be, what projects will be helped or hindered, and how the further effects of all these things will play out over the centuries. An example could be taking away someones freedom due to suspected terrorist activities. 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! Good actions are the ones that produce the least harm. The virtue ethics approach focuses on the " integrity" of the moral actor. Jack had no idea how to identify gold. (From 1), What will satisfy each persons desire is her own happinessand whatever promotes that. by Jason Blakely December 02, 2020. A Plague of Catholic Cafeteria Consequentialism. One reply to this objection is that our intuitive sense of fairness is not mainly concerned with distributions of ultimate goods like happiness or well-being. For instance, obeying highway speed limits might cause some individuals to miss their destination on time. But you might think that whether my action was morally wrong depends on what consequences it would have been reasonable for me to expect, not on the actual consequences. One might object that if the objectively right action is the one whose consequences are best, then general social opinion cannot be an authority on objective rightness, even on those issues where the general opinion is clear. Cognitive film and media ethics. It teaches: Rule consequentialism bases moral rules on their consequences. Her expectation that it will produce or promote that good outcome is her reason for performing the action. Consequentialism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), Rule Consequentialism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), Consequentialism [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]. (From 1 and 3), The right action is the one that objectively ought to happen. However, she also loves to explore different topics such as psychology, philosophy, and more. The criticisms of consequentialism raise a number of fundamental questions that are important in ascertaining the relationship with criminal law and justice practice. how, for example, do you measure happiness? 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. But on many issues there is a broad range of solid agreement about what is morally obvious, at least in societies that have long permitted open discussion by all. For example, suppose Paul is considering stealing money from his grandmother to help the poor. Ethical egoism has no solutions to offer when a problem arises involving conflicts of interest. If you want to do good for me, doing the sorts of things that are normally thought of as violating my personal rights is probably a bad bet. 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. Example If in consequence ethics you should only care about the good that comes from an act, it seems as if unethical acts can be justified if they result in a good outcome. 8 yr. ago What if I told you Kantians are also concerned about the consequences of their actions? A worry about the argument is that premise (5) may not be true. morecambe fc owners examples of moral decisions in everyday life. It differs from utilitarianism in focusing more on individual pleasure than collective good (Scheffler, 2009). However, they are still important considerations when making moral decisions. If the outcome is good, how one achieved the outcome is not that important. For example, introducing a minimum wage law could potentially increase economic growth while reducing poverty levels if it is successful thus making it an effective policy from a state-consequentialist point of view. Whether an act is right or wrong depends only on the results of that act, The more good consequences an act produces, the better or more right that act, A person should choose the action that maximises good consequences, People should live so as to maximise good consequences. This makes life nicer and helps people be concerned for each other rather than fearful of each other, and they will therefore do more good for each other. See Singer (1972); Jackson (1991); Kidder (2003). Suppose you are on average just as happy as I am, but you live twice as long. Similarly, if a certain action would be good for me but bad for you, there is a reason for it and a reason against it. A different kind of reply to the objection is to propose a new standard for the goodness of consequences. Indeed, no one can know the future with certainty. 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. For one thing, consequentialism holds that actions do matter, because they are among their own consequences. On the other hand, one might think it is impossible to know what is morally right; morality seems permanently controversial and mysterious. Expectable Consequentialism: The morally right action is the action whose reasonably expectable consequences are best. Should the Numbers Count?, Thomson, Judith Jarvis. Respect The Elders. Hence consequentialism would seem to ask us to support laws that protect personal freedom against excessive interference by our neighbors or our government. Such a conception is egalitarian in the sense that it counts every bit of your happiness as being just as important as the same sized bits of my happiness. The picture is roughly as follows. Consequentialism would seem to say that you should do this, but moral common sense says that you should not. [2] The University of Hong Kong 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. First, abstractly, to be moral is to do ones rational best to do what is objectively right. For the moment, Jill was an authority for Jack on whether these lumps were gold. Fiet, J. O. We formed four focus groups containing 6-9 participants each. See Sen (1982), Nagel (1986), Scheffler (1994), Bennett (1989), Scheffler (1989), Brink (1986), and Skorupski (1995). To see the difference in principle between these theories, suppose there is a somewhat reliable authority on what specific kinds of actions are objectively right. Perhaps it does not involve explicitly thinking about the consequences at all. Now, this objection does not directly apply to Plain Consequentialism or Plain Scalar Consequentialism, for these theories do not say that we should think about consequences. Act-Utilitarianism: Account of Right-Making Characteristics or Decision-Making Procedures?, Bennett, Jonathan. As this example illustrates, what starts out as a defense of universal ethical egoism very often turns into an indirect defense of consequentialism: the claim is that everyone will be better off if each person does what is in his or her own interests. 7. 6. An example of consequentialism is the utilitarian theory. Bentham, Jeremy (J. H. Burns and H. L. A. Hart, eds.). (But see Tnnsj (1988), 41ff.) Hedonism is a type of consequentialism that states that the pursuit of pleasure should be the highest moral priority. While there are many varieties of consequentialism, their common thread is that, as the name suggests, normative evaluation of particular actions or rules depends on an analysis of consequences alone. 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.
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