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Consequentialism is an ethical theory that judges whether or not something is right by what its consequences are. For instance, most people would agree that lying is wrong. But if telling a lie would help save a person’s life, consequentialism says it’s the right thing to do. Two examples of consequentialism are utilitarianism and hedonism. Utilitarianism judges consequences by a “greatest good for the greatest number” standard. Hedonism, on the other hand, says something is “good” if the consequence produces pleasure or avoids pain. Consequentialism is sometimes criticized because it can be difficult, or even impossible, to know what the result of an action will be ahead of time. Indeed, no one can know the future with certainty. Also, in certain situations, consequentialism can lead to decisions that are objectionable, even though the consequences are arguably good. For example, let’s suppose economists could prove that the world economy would be stronger, and that most people would be happier, healthier, and wealthier, if we just enslaved 2% of the population. Although the majority of people would benefit from this idea, most would never agree to it. However, when judging the idea solely on its results, as classic consequentialism does, then “the end justifies the means.” About consequentialismConsequentialism: results-based ethicsThe Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy gives a plain and simple definition of consequentialism:
Consequentialism is based on two principles:
It gives us this guidance when faced with a moral dilemma:
And it gives this general guidance on how to live:
Different forms of consequentialism differ over what the good thing is that should be maximised.
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. Instead they use ethical rules that are derived from considering the general consequences of particular types of acts. That is called 'rule consequentialism'.
Results-based ethics produces this important conclusion for ethical thinking:
This far-fetched example may make things clearer:
UtilitarianismEvaluating each decision would take too long. Photo: Liz Fagoli © The classic form of results-based ethics is called utilitarianism. This says that the ethically right choice in a given situation is the one that produces the most happiness and the least unhappiness for the largest number of people. The appeal of results-based ethicsResults-based ethics plays a very large part in everyday life because it is simple and appeals to common sense:
Act consequentialismAct consequentialismAct consequentialism looks at every single moral choice anew. It teaches:
Good points of act consequentialismA flexible system
Bad points of act consequentialismImpractical for real life use
Bad for society
Rule consequentialismRule consequentialismRule consequentialism bases moral rules on their consequences. This removes many of the problems of act consequentialism. Rule consequentialism teaches:
So when an individual has a moral choice to make they can ask themselves if there's an appropriate rule to apply and then apply it. The rules that should be adopted are the rules that would produce the best results if they were adopted by most people. Philosophers express this with greater precision:
And here's another version:
Good points of rule consequentialismPractical and efficient
Bad points of rule consequentialismLess flexible
Other forms of consequentialismNegative ConsequentialismNegative consequentialism is the inverse of ordinary consequentialism. Good actions are the ones that produce the least harm.
Against consequentialismAgainst consequentialismConsequentialism has both practical and philosophical problems: Future consequences are difficult to predict
Measuring and comparing the 'goodness' of consequences is very difficult
It is easy to bias in favour of particular groups
It ignores things we regard as ethically relevant
And these are things that many think are relevant to ethical judgements. However, in support of consequentialism it might be argued that many of the things listed above do influence the good or bad consequences of an act, particularly when formulating ethical rules, and so they become incorporated in consequentialist ethical thinking; but only through the back door, not directly. It doesn't take account of the 'fairness' of the resultWe cannot predict every outcome of an event © Simple forms of consequentialism say that the best action is the one that produces the largest total of happiness. This ignores the way in which that happiness is shared out and so would seem to approve of acts that make most people happy, and a few people very unhappy, or that make a few people ecstatically happy and leave the majority at best neutral. It also detracts from the value of individuals and their own interests and projects, other than when those are in line with the interests of the group. It can be inconsistent with human rightsConsider this situation: A billionaire needs an organ transplant. He says that if he is given the next suitable organ he will fund 1000 hip-replacements a year for 10 years. 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. 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. What is consequentialism in simple terms?Consequentialism is a theory that says whether something is good or bad depends on its outcomes. An action that brings about more benefit than harm is good, while an action that causes more harm than benefit is not. The most famous version of this theory is utilitarianism.
What is consequentialism vs utilitarianism?Indeed, utilitarianism and consequentialism share many of the same tenets. One difference, however, is consequentialism does not specify a desired outcome, while utilitarianism specifies good as the desired outcome.
What is an example of consequentialism?Consequentialism is an ethical theory that judges whether or not something is right by what its consequences are. For instance, most people would agree that lying is wrong. But if telling a lie would help save a person's life, consequentialism says it's the right thing to do.
What are the three main elements of consequentialism?Consequentialists have distinguished three components of their theory: (1) their thesis about what makes acts morally wrong, (2) their thesis about the procedure agents should use to make their moral decisions, and (3) their thesis about the conditions under which moral sanctions such as blame, guilt, and praise are ...
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