PHIL1550 Chapters 6-10

PHIL1550 Chapters 6-10

1. Chapter 6: Consequentialist Ethics: Act Utilitarianism

   • Attractions and Problems
     • Attractions
       • OBJECTIVITY
       • SIMPLICITY
       • FLEXIBLE
       • INCULDES ANIMALS
     • Problems
       • CALCULATIONS: aren't very practical, but may be solved with rules of thumb.
       • MORAL SAINTS
       • PROMISES, JUSTICE, & RIGHTS: can sometimes promote more utility by breaking these.
   • Act Utilitarianism: the morally right act, for any particular situation, is that act that results in producing the greatest overall utility. The utility is measured using S.D.I.P.
     • SCOPE: The greater the number affected by an act, the greater the scope of its effects.
     • DURATION: The longer the effects lasts, the more it influences overall utility.
     • INTENSITY: Experiences can vary in their degree of strength or force, from person to person.
     • PROBABILITY: the chance or likelihood of something taking place, must be estimated.
   • Utility and Mill's Account
     • Practible consequentialism must be able to accurately measure the amount of utility something has. MILL was a hedonist and an empiricist.
     • Qualities: allow us to distinguish between higher and lower pleasures; Mill thought the lower pleasures deserve less moral weight.
       • Qualities could be measured by weighting them by peoples preferences, people who have experienced both.
       • Anyone can enjoy the lower pleasures, but training and experience are required to appreciate the higher pleasures.
     • HIGHER PLEASURES: associated with more intellectual and distinctively human experiences. LOWER PLEASURES: associated with more bodily instincts and appetites. BOTH can be perverted.
       • "It's better still to be a human FULLY satisfied than Mill dissatisfied"
       • "It is better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied." --- Mill
   • Utility and Consequentialism
     • Consequntialism: a general approach to ethics that maintains that only consequences determine what is morally right or wrong. Consequences are evaluated by their utility.
     • Utility: whatever makes consequences desirable; DISUTILITY is undesirable. When these are mixed they are subtracted from each other, and the greater determines OVERALL UTILITY.
     • Pleasure (hedonistic view) could be used to measure utility, but the difference between happiness and pleasure has shifted to include both as a measure of utility.
       • Pleasures can be morally wrong and are generally short-lived.
       • Happiness is a state of mind related to personal fulfilment.

2. Chapter 7: Consequentialist Ethics: Rule Utilitarianism

   • Rule Utilitarianism
     • Principle of RULES: a morally right rule or practice is one that would promote significantly greater overall utility, if widely followed, than if it did not exist.
     • Principle of ACTS: a morally right act is one that follows a morally right rule or practice. Rules identified as morally rightly the POR should be filled except when they come into direct conflict with each other.
   • Problems with Rule Utilitarianism
     • DILEMMAS: solved with Dilemma Principle, saying the morally right act for a particular circumstance is that which produces the greatest overall utility.
     • INCONSISTENCY: act and rule both aim towards promoting utility, but clash, making some situations where following a rule does not produce the most utility. Solve with fine tuning.
       • FINE TUNING: introducing qualifications to a rule or practice, allowing it to generate more utility over a limited set of situations.
     • COLLAPSE: occurs when fine-tuning is taken too far and RU becomes Act Utilitarianism.
   • Justice and Rights (Again)
     • Supports justice and rights using alternative dilemma principle to give these priority.
       • ADP: requires that when rule utilitarianism rules conflict, the rule that creates the greatest overall utility takes precedence and is the rule that should be followed.
     • Consequences can vary across social settings, so justice and rights cannot apply universally.
   • RU vs. AU: Avoids calculations and moral saint problems, and deals better with promises, justice and rights. Works because of the shift from individual acts to rules that assess the overall consequences of that practice.

3. Chapter 8: Deontological Ethics

   • Deontological Ethics
     • Reject consequences as the moral basis and focus on DUTY to avoid certain kinds of actions.
     • Considers motives and intentions.
   • Ross's Ethics: Intutionist (we must simply know our moral duties)
     • Foundational Moral Duties
       • REPARATION: to set wrongs right again.
       • SELF-IMPROVEMENT: improve one's self.
       • JUSTICE: ensure fair distribution of goods.
       • BENEFICENCE: improve the condition of others.
       • GRATITUDE: to make some return for favours and services others have provided.
       • FIDELITY: be truthful, pay back debts, keep agreements.
       • NON-MALEFICENCE: not harming or injuring others.
     • Kinds of Duties
       • Actual Moral Duty is the one Prima Facie duty that is more important than the others and so it the duty that ought to be fulfilled in that situation.
       • Prima Facie Duties out to be fulfilled as long as no other important moral duty overrides it.
   • Kant's Good Will: the only thing of foundational moral worth, chooses to do something because it is one's duty. This is based on reason.
   • Kant's Principle of Ends
     • CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE: a binding principle that holds unconditionally for everyone and every situation. Forms the Principle of Ends and the Principle of Universal Law.
     • HYPOTHETICAL IMPERATIVE: a conditional principle that tells us what we should do if we satisfy some condition or hope to achieve some goal.
     • PRINCIPLE OF ENDS: act so as to treat every person affected by your action (include yourself) as an end and never as a means only.
   • Kant's Principle of Universal Law
     • Principle of Universal Law: act only in accordance with a maxim that you can at the same time (rationally) will to be a universal law or principle.
       • MAXIM: any rule of conduct or behaviour that one can act in accordance with.
     • PERFECT DUTY: An absolute obligation that cannot be obeyed by degrees. IMPERFECT DUTY: can be be fulfilled by varying degrees.
   • The Principle of Autonomy: Kant's Autonomy is equally a creator of the universal moral law, making the law for themselves.
   • Attractions and Problems
     • ATTRACTIONS: emphasizes justice and rights.
     • PROBLEMS: neglects consequences, the same acts can be characterized by different maxims, and may not respect non-autonomous individuals.

4. Chapter 9: Natural Law Theory

   • Natural Law Theory
   • Forfeiture
   • Double Effect
   • Problems

5. Chapter 10: Social Contracts and Rights