To find out whether the action is rationally justifiable overall, one must look beyond these specific kinds of reason to find what overall reason there is. If there is an answer, perhaps it is something like this: both A itself and the things A causes are things that happen if you do A rather than the alternatives to A. 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. And since we ought to do what is rationally justifiable, we ought to do whatever does the most good overall. So if consequentialism agrees with common sense, that agreement is some reason to think that consequentialism is true. Utilitarianism holds that the most ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the greatest number. Researchers identify many criticisms of consequentialism, such as its lack of consideration for individual rights, reliance on calculation and prediction, and failure to consider certain values, such as justice or fairness. Philosophers express this with greater precision: An action is morally right if and only if it does not violate the set of rules of behaviour whose general acceptance in the community would have the best consequences--that is, at least as good as any rival set of rules or no rules at all. 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? The term may also refer to pleasure or satisfaction that people derive from being somewhere. Now, one reply to the extreme examples is that such opportunities are extremely unusual. All the advice on this site is general in nature. For the moment, Jill was an authority for Jack on whether these lumps were gold. Thus, without reasonably thinking about my choice, I have done what it would have been reasonable to estimate would have the best results. Such a situation has been seen in cases where governments have implemented policies with negative consequences for some people to benefit society. (At least that is true of the surgery example.) The philosophy also fails to consider certain values, such as justice or fairness, in determining the morality of an action. A particular action is morally good only if it produces more overall good than any alternative action. To say that a certain pebble is good is meaningless. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40926832. Expectable Consequentialism says that an action can be right even if I do not think reasonably about it at all, so long as it is the action I would have estimated to have the best consequences if I had done a reasonable job of making an estimate. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that determines right from wrong by focusing on outcomes. Many of our actions are aimed at developing skill. So, an action may be deemed morally right even if it harms certain individuals or violates their rights as long as the overall outcome is beneficial. All utilitarian theories share four key elements: consequentialism, welfarism, impartiality, and aggregationism. Ethical egoism is a type of consequentialist theory that states that individuals should act out of self-interest and pursue what is best for their own well-being rather than considering what might benefit others or society (Shaver, 2019). Consequentialism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) And perhaps that is why common sense favors some partiality. But that does not imply that there is a kind of skill that is neither boxing nor piano but simply overall skill, nor does it imply that my training actions are irrational unless I think they will promote overall skill. For consequentialism, the moral rightness or wrongness of an act depends on the consequences it produces. Society does not solely focus on happiness when making choices. How Thinking about Character and Utilitarianism Might Lead to Rethinking the Character of Utilitarianism., Railton, Peter. If you decide by looking to the consequences, you are not really an honest person. If I point to a pebble and say that it is a good pebble, you will not know what I mean. 2 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. 7. Act consequentialism is a moral theory that tells us the morally right action is always the one that will produce the best overall outcome in the world. In other words, one must ask whether the action promotes benefit overall. Hedonism, on the other hand, says something is good if the consequence produces pleasure or avoids pain. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that asserts that right and wrong are best determined by focusing on outcomes of actions and choices. See Firth (1952); Hare (1981), Seanor and Fotion (1988). Consequentialism may ask us to meddle too much into other peoples business. So also are community religious leaders, community doctors, bakers, shoe-sales people, and the like. Or suppose you are on average twice as happy as I am, and we live equally long. 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. examples of utilitarianism in today's society examples of - T h e o Suppose you are on average just as happy as I am, but you live twice as long. Consequentialism is a broad school of ethical theory. Consequentialism is usually taken to be different from deontology which emphasizes the type of action instead of its . [2] (PDF) Rule-Consequentialism - ResearchGate Elements and Types of Utilitarianism | Utilitarianism.net Why bounded rationality (in epistemology)? - Thorstad - Philosophy and that determine whether they are good or bad, right or wrong. On this theory, an action is not right or wrong because of its own consequences; rather, it is right or wrong depending on whether it violates the collective rules that would have the best consequences. Any one of these collections provides an excellent introduction to consequentialism. And what moves you to spend an hour with your friend or spouse or child should not be impartial calculations about the overall impact on the world at large. A worry about this line of thought is that if there were some simple theory like consequentialism that captured what morality is about, one might think that we would have recognized it long ago. (There can also be a scalar version of this view and of the others introduced below.). Learn more about our academic and editorial standards. Another important point about consequences is that the actual consequences of an action, beyond the action itself, need not be actual outcomes. China, Expectable Consequentialism and Reasonable Consequentialism, Two Simple Arguments for Consequentialism, It is Wrong to Choose the Worse Over the Better, The whole of an actions consequences has no further consequences. See Williams (1973); Williams (1981); Stocker (1976). And if you are a skilled surgeon, anything that hampers your operations will hurt people. Hence consequentialism would seem to ask us to support laws that protect personal freedom against excessive interference by our neighbors or our government. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. A normative theory in moral philosophy, it became prominent after being put forth by the renowned philosopher, Immanuel Kant, in 1788. What Is Ethical Egoism? - ThoughtCo Moral Theory of Deontology Explained With Varied Examples Viktoriya Sus (MA) and Peer Reviewed by Chris Drew (PhD), Machiavellianism: 10 Examples and Definition, Latent Inhibition: 10 Examples and Definition, Belief Perseverance: 10 Examples and Definition (Psychology), Transhumanism: 10 Examples and Definition. Consequentialism says you should do this; but moral common sense says that you should not. 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. Web Privacy Policy 10 Obligation moral dilemmas. (Premise), An action is good insofar as it helps to satisfy desire. Its standard is high. 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. And, it's a form of lying and cheating. 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. Individuals are put in a position to make a choice between one life vs. multiple lives. Thus consequentialism seems to defeat its own purpose. Finally, some argue that consequentialism fails to consider certain values, such as justice or fairness when determining the morality of an action (Stubbs, 1981). (From 2 and 3), In choosing an action, one is choosing its whole set of consequences. Now, serious inequality in external goods tends to reduce the total happiness. We cite peer reviewed academic articles wherever possible and reference our sources at the end of our articles. These values may not necessarily result in the best overall outcome. Or suppose you are unhappy instead: on average just as unhappy as I am happy and for the same amount of time. A worry about the argument is that premise (5) may not be true. Consequentialism and Criminal Justice Practice. This controversial line of thought is not only an objection to the above argument for consequentialism, it is also an argument against consequentialism. Consequentialism states that an actions moral value is determined by its consequences. Consequentialism suggests that to set a speed limit rightly, you must balance such considerations accurately. So the total happiness we had is three times the happiness I had. (From 4 and 5), Desiring something is the same thing as thinking that it will increase ones happiness or decrease ones unhappiness. Utilitarianism, Act and Rule | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Virtue Ethics in Healthcare Case 1. What is good is happinessand whatever promotes that. Consequentialism is controversial. On consequentialist grounds, actions and inactions whose negative consequences outweigh the positive consequences will be deemed morally wrong while actions and inactions whose positive . Negative consequentialism is the inverse of ordinary consequentialism. A person should choose the act that does the least amount of harm to the greatest number of people. Your focus must be on the actions taken instead of the results achieved. 7 Real Life Examples Of Deontology - StudiousGuy A Critique of Utilitarianism, in. It teaches: Rule consequentialism bases moral rules on their consequences. 36 short illustrated videos explain behavioral ethics concepts and basic ethics principles. For example, killing one person to save five others would be considered moral according to this theory because it would result in greater overall happiness than if no one was killed. Two examples of consequentialism are utilitarianism and hedonism. 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. 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. Consequentialism can be broken down into two core beliefs: Today, consequentialism has many different forms from utilitarianism to rule consequentialism and has been applied in various contexts, from business decisions to criminal justice. It is also egalitarian in that it takes everyone's welfare into account. 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. 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. According to Rule Consequentialism, the right thing for each person in the community near the river to do is to follow the rule, Throw garbage in the dump, not in the river. Even if nobody else is going to the dump, and your going to the dump causes only inconvenience and no benefit, Rule Consequentialism says to take your garbage to the dump because that is what the best set of community rules would require. This form of consequentialism suggests that following established rules, even when they may lead to negative outcomes, will produce more desirable results in the long run than acting without any rules at all (Hooker, 2002). Slote, M. A. Web Accessibility, Copyright 2023 Ethics Unwrapped - McCombs School of Business The University of Texas at Austin, Being Your Best Self, Part 1: Moral Awareness, Being Your Best Self, Part 2: Moral Decision Making, Being Your Best Self, Part 3: Moral Intent, Being Your Best Self, Part 4: Moral Action, Ethical Leadership, Part 1: Perilous at the Top, Ethical Leadership, Part 2: Best Practices, Financial Conflicts of Interest in Research, Curbing Corruption: GlaxoSmithKline in China. Simply, consequentialism means that the moral worth of an action is determined by the result it produces rather than by any predetermined principles of morality. For example, welfare consequentialism, or welfarism, maintains that all that matters or is good is welfare, or well-being. For general social opinion does not agree that the objectively right action is the one whose consequences are best. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so. Deontology vs Consequentialism: Decoding Common Word Mix-Ups Impartiality: The view that the identity of individuals is irrelevant to the moral value of an outcome. (From 9), X is desirable means X will help satisfy desire if, X occurs. (Premise), The words good and desirable are synonyms. (From 3 and 4), Good and desirable are synonyms. Now, some kinds of thing do not suggest any standards of goodness: consider good pebble. It's hard to measure and compare the 'goodness' of those consequences. Utilitarianism: What It Is, Founders, and Main Principles - Investopedia One reason is that, in general, external goods tend to produce more happiness or well-being when they go to people who have less of these goods than when they go to people who have more. Presumably the stronger desires are to count for more. Kant's ethics applies to all situations in which somebody does an intentional action. Simple forms of consequentialism say that the best action is the one that produces the largest total of happiness. For what is meant by love here? Rule Consequentialism in one or another form has received a great deal of discussion. Studentsshould always cross-check any information on this site with their course teacher. It is a familiar truth of everyday life that greater wealth for an individual is no guarantee of greater . Driver, J. An example of consequentialism is the utilitarian theory. Yet prominent commentators suggest or imply that Sen's CA is not "consequentialist". Choose one of the ethical theories covered in this chapter (listed Moral Philosophy studies what is right and wrong, and related philosophical issues. Cite this Article in your Essay (APA Style), Privacy PolicyTerms and ConditionsDisclaimerAccessibility StatementVideo Transcripts. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Consequentialism is an ethical theory that judges whether or not something is right by what its consequences are. Plain Consequentialism is a theory about which actions are right. If you cross out +2 from both sides of 10+2 = 3(2+2), you change a truth to a falsehood. 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. Further, those near to you are counting on your help, so that if you stop helping them their plans will be disrupted, while strangers will not be hurt in that way if you do not spend money on them. For example, this could be in times of war or a financial crash. consequentialism examples in everyday life. Today, consequentialism has many different forms developed over the years. That assumption may be mistaken, because it is not true that an authority on whether something has a certain feature has to know exactly what that feature is. Further, it is important that people be free to make decisions for themselves, even poor decisions, because that is the only way that people develop strength of character and because constant experimentation is the only way humanity learns about the various possibilities of life. Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition,151(3), 393412. Actions that promote egalitarian institutions, then, would tend to do the most good overall.