CONSEQUENTIAL

LESSON 10

ETHICS
Libramonte
Maglinte
Orca J.
ETHICAL THEORIES
CONSEQUENTIALISM
● It is a class of normative ethics which holds that the
consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for
any judgment about the rightness or wrongness of the
conduct.

● Consequentialism refers to the moral theories that hold that

the consequences of a particular action form the basis for
any valid moral judgment about the action.
Consequentialism

Of all the things a person We ought to do whatever Maximum good for the
might do at any given maximizes good maximum number of
moment, the morally right consequences. It doesn't in people.
action is the one with the itself matter what kind of
best overall consequences. thing we do. What matters
is that we maximize good
results.
Basis of Consequentialism
“The ends justify the means"
 ● Whether an act is right or wrong
If a goal is morally depends only on the results of that
act.
important enough, ● The more good consequences an act
produces, the better or more right
any method of that act.
● Guidance in case of a moral
achieving it is dilemma: action that maximizes
good consequences shall be chosen.
acceptable. ● Generally People should live so as to
maximize good consequences
Forms of Consequentialism
Utilitarianism
states that people should
maximize human welfare or well-
being (utility )- is the aggregate
positive effect of everyone and
not only of one person.
Hedonism
states that people should maximize
human pleasure.
Other forms of consequentialism take a
more subtle approach; for example
stating that people should maximize the
satisfaction of their fully informed and
rational preferences.
EXAMPLE
Suppose that by killing X, an entirely innocent person, we can save the lives of
10 other innocent people.

Consequentiali A consequentialist would say that killing X is justified because

it would result in only 1 person dying, rather than 10 people
st dying.

A●non-consequentialist
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would say is inherently wrong to murder
Non-
Deliverable 3
hhhh people
● Sed and do
refuse to kill X,tempor
eiusmod even though not killingut
incididunt X labore
leads to the
Consequentialist death of 10 people than killing X.
Act Consequentialism
Looks at every single moral
choice afresh: A particular
action is morally good only if it
produces more overall good
than any alternative action.
In practice people don't assess the ethical
consequences of every single act as they
don't have the time. Instead they use ethical
rules that are derived from considering the
general consequences of particular types of
acts. ('rule consequentialism')
Eg. According to Rule Consequentialism:
lying is wrong because in general it
produces bad consequences.
Why Act
● A flexible system.
Consequentialism is ● Can take account of any set
of circumstances, however
Good?
exceptional.
● Leaves no ethical dilemma.
 Act Consequentialism is Impractical
While it sounds attractive in theory, it's a very difficult system to apply to real life moral decisions
because:

● Impractical for real life use

● Every moral decision is a completely separate case that must be fully evaluated
● Individuals must research, and doing such research is often impracticable, and too costly
● The time taken by such research leads to slow decision-making which may itself have bad
consequences, and the bad consequences of delay may outweigh the good consequences of
making a perfect decision.

However, where a very serious moral choice has to be made, or in unusual circumstances,
individuals may well think hard about the consequences of particular moral choices. (Exceptional
Cases)
 Bad for society
● It would be difficult to predict the moral decisions that other people would
make, and this would lead to great uncertainty.
● May lead to collapse of mutual trust in society, as many would fear that
prejudice or bias towards family or other groups would more strongly influence
moral decisions than if people used general moral rules.

Shall lead to social unrest.

 Rule consequentialism
Rule consequentialism bases moral rules on their consequences.
● Whether acts are good or bad depends on moral rules
● Moral rules are chosen solely on the basis of their consequences

When a moral choice is to be made ask:

-If there's an appropriate rule to apply and then apply it.

-The rules that should be adopted are the rules that produce best results for most people.

-An act is right if and only if it results from the internalization of a set of rules that would
maximize good. If the vast majority of agents internalized the set of rules
 ● Practical: Rule consequentialism gets
round the practical problems of act
consequentialism because the hard
work has been done in deriving the
Rule rules; individuals don't generally have
to carry out difficult research before
Consequentialism they can take action.
● Efficient: Individuals can shortcut
their moral decision-making and
make decisions in a quick and timely
manner.
Criticism
● Measuring and comparing the 'goodness' of consequences
is very difficult.
● It leads to bias in favor of particular groups.
● It ignores things we regard as ethically relevant.
● It doesn't take account of the 'fairness' of the result.
● It can be inconsistent with human rights.
Consequentialist vs. Non-Consequentialist
Theories
Consequentialist
- Utilitarianism
“that action is best that produces
the greatest good for the greatest
number" (Jeremy Bentham).
Non-Consequentialist
Theory of value judges the rightness or
wrongness of an action based on
properties intrinsic to the action, not on
its consequences.
- Libertarianism-People should be free
to do as they like as long as they
respect the freedom of others to do the
same
THANK YOU!