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Ethical Theories: Conclusion
Nanoethics Lecture III
Roderick T. Long
Auburn Dept. of Philosophy
Utilitarianism A consequentialist theory: standard for the
rightness of actions is beneficial consequences
Differs from ethical egoism (another consequentialist theory) in appealing to beneficial consequences for everybody, not just oneself
Claims the virtue of simplicity
Utilitarian SimplicityWe ordinarily think beneficial results are one
ethical consideration among others.Utilitarianism offers to explain the same
range of ethical phenomena equally well by appealing solely to such results.
This would make it a superior theory – IF in fact it explains them EQUALLY WELL.
Does it?
Remember Our Problem Case for Utilitarianism
Five patients need five
different organ transplants Should we kill healthy
patient and redistribute
organs? Clash between ethical theory (might seem
to say yes) and particular judgment (no)
Three Approaches to Solving Conflicts
1. Top-down: stick with the theory no matter what particular judgments it yields
Three Approaches to Solving Conflicts
2. Bottom-up: stick with particular judgments no matter what ethical theory they imply
Three Approaches to Solving Conflicts
3. Reflective equilibration: mutual adjustment
Whatever they may say, in practice philosophers choose RE
Analogy With ScienceTop-down science (sticking with theory no
matter what observations say) is bad science
But bottom-up science is bad too: freshman chemist gets boiling water at 90º
Mutual adjustment in science tooDifference: philosophy conceptual, not
empirical
Problem Case for Utilitarianism
Three possible moves for utilitarian:
1. Reject utilitarianism (in favor of, say, Kantianism – respecting persons as ends)
2. Bite the bullet (accept killing the patient)
3. Reformulate utilitarianism so as to avoid the undesirable implication
Option 3Distinguish act-utilitarianism from rule-utilitarianismAct-utilitarianism: choose each action in light of
social utilityRule-utilitarianism: choose general rules in light of
social utility; then choose each action in light of the rules
Rule-UtilitarianismSometimes more effective to
pursue goals indirectlyExample: referees in sports –
even if the purpose of the game is to give pleasure to the spectators, if the referee makes calls based on what will please the spectators, the spectators will soon be displeased
Rule-UtilitarianismAnother example: Francis Bacon on
“experiments of fruit” vs. “experiments of light”
Value of science is technological goodies, not general insight for its own sake – but the best way to get the goodies is to pursue the insight
Act as though the end doesn’t justify the means even though it does!
Rule-Utilitarian Solution to ODC
A general policy of sacrificing few to many would make all of society nervous
Make society better off by committing ourselves to a principle prohibiting such sacrifices
We produce better results by acting as if we care about something other than results
Rule-EgoismIncidentally, Ethical Egoists
can (and do) make this same move – which is why the conduct they recommend is usually not radically different from ordinary morality
Rule-EgoismSome ethical egoists
combine rule-egoism with virtue ethics, advising us to choose the act that expresses the virtues that it is in our self-interest to cultivate
More Moves for the Anti-Utilitarian
Is rule-utilitarianism stable? If you try to treat means as though they were ends – well, do you really regard them as ends, or don’t you?
If you do, you’re no longer a utilitarian. If you don’t, what keeps you from sliding
back into act-utilitarianism?
More Moves for the Anti-Utilitarian
Does rule-utilitarianism identify the right reasons that killing the patient is wrong?
Even if killing the patient would indirectly be bad for society, is that the main reason it’s wrong?
Or is it what it does to the patient?
More Moves for the Anti-Utilitarian
Does it even make sense for a benefit to some people to make up for a harm to others – when they’re different people?
Does utilitarianism treat society as though it were on big person?
More Moves for the Anti-Utilitarian
And so the dialectic
continues ….
Immanuel Kant Perhaps the most
influential philosopher of the 18th century
A deontologist A leading opponent of
all forms of consequentialism
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant Morality is a set of imperatives
(commands, instructions) There are two kinds of imperatives:
hypothetical (“conditional”) and categorical (“unconditional”)
Hypothetical and Categorical Imperatives
A hypothetical imperative is one that is rationally binding on you only if you happen to have a certain goal (example: recipes, driving directions)
A categorical imperative is one that is rationally binding on you regardless of what goals you happen to have
Hypothetical and Categorical Imperatives
It’s part of the concept of morality that moral imperatives are categorical: you can’t get off the hook for a moral duty because you happen not to care about a certain goal
But if consequentialism were true, then morality would be a recipe for producing good consequences – and so there’d be no reason to care about morality if you happened not to care about those consequences
Hypothetical and Categorical Imperatives
1. If consequentialism were true, morality would be a hypothetical imperative.
2. But morality is a categorical imperative, not a hypothetical one.
3. Therefore: consequentialism is false.
So concludes Kant.
Immanuel KantWhenever I act for a given reason, I’m
showing that I regard it as OK to act that way for that reason.
So I’m endorsing a general practice of acting that way for that reason.
Suppose I lie to get money. I’m thereby endorsing a general practice of lying to get money.
Immanuel KantBut the point of lying is to deceive
someone, and lying can be a successful means of deceit only because truth-telling is the norm.
So in order to lie I have to want most people most of the time to tell the truth.
Thus by lying I’m committing myself simultaneously to lying being the rule and lying being the exception.
Immanuel KantSo by lying my will contradicts itself.Self-contradiction is irrational,
regardless of what one’s goals are.So a prohibition on lying is rationally
binding regardless of what one’s goals are – it’s a categorical imperative.
Immanuel KantIn general: it’s contrary to reason to make
special exceptions for ourselves to rules we expect everyone else to follow.
When you do that, you’re simultaneously endorsing the rule and endorsing the exception – and so contradicting yourself.
Kant’s Answer to the ODCIf I seek the general welfare by sacrificing individuals, I thereby authorize anybody to do likewise – I authorize sacrifice as a general policy.
But it wouldn’t work as a general policy – it would frustrate the goal.
Therefore killing the one patient is contradictory.
Kant’s Answer to the ODCNote: what’s wrong with killing the one patient
is not that a general policy of doing so would have bad results.
Kant’s moral theory doesn’t depend on the goodness or badness of results.
Rather, what’s wrong with it is that there’s an internal contradiction involved in willing it – you simultaneously affirm two mutually inconsistent principles.
Kant’s Answer to the ODCAnalogy: what’s wrong with believing that 2 + 2 = 5?It’s not that believing 2 + 2 = 5 has bad
results (even though it probably would) but rather that it’s inherently illogical, even apart from its results.
Who’s Right?
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