Consequentialism

AG 401
Objectives

Define consequentialism
Understand types of consequential theories
Utilitarianism
Act consequentialism
Rule consequentialism
Class Exercise

Suppose you borrowed $200 from a friend and promised to pay it back in
two weeks. At the agreed upon time, you have the money and are ready to
return it to your friend. However, you hear from your mother of an
appeal for a much needed financial relief effort for your neighboring
family that just experienced disaster & tragedy. You realize that you can
bring greater happiness to your neighboring family by giving the $200
instead of repaying your debt. However, your friend is also in need of the
$200 to pay his cell phone bill today or it will be shut off. Your friend
would not be pleased if you did not give him the money and he would
insist that a promise must be kept.

What would you do?

Consequentialism

A set of results-based ethics

2 principles:
1. Whether an act is right or wrong depends only on the results of
that act
Good consequences act is morally right
Bad consequences act is morally wrong
2. The more good consequences an act produces, the better or more right
that act

An act is morally required just because it produces the best

overall results.
Thus the act itself is not as important as the consequences of the
act.
John Stuart Mill

The most moral actions are

those that give the most
good for the most people.
Moral judgments are made on
the basis of how judgments or
acts affect the public utility
(usefulness or advantage) or the
common good.
The desired consequence is to
maximize general happiness, to
give the most good for the most British Philosopher
1806-1873
people.
Consequentialism, results based

Gives guidance when faced with a moral dilemma:

A person should choose the action that maximizes good
consequences
General guidance on how to live:
People should live so as to maximize good consequences
The appeal of results-based ethics

Allows us to evaluate several different outcomes and

then choose one we think is best
How do we define the best outcome?

Best it is that consequence which brings the greatest

happiness to the most people
In other words happiness is the intrinsic (natural) end we seek
& the best consequence to give most people is the most happiness
Happiness is a common denominator that describes the value of
the consequence
Against Consequentialism

Can be hard to predict the future consequences of an

act
Difficult to determine unintended consequences
Measuring and comparing goodness of consequences
is difficult
How do you measure happiness? Do you compare length,
intensity? Subjective qualities of happiness?
Bias in favor different groups, different
consequences
No one size fits all
Acts, per se, are not considered

Results-based ethics produces this important conclusion

for ethical thinking:
No type of act is inherently wrong - not even murder -
it depends on the result of the act. For example:
Suppose that by killing X, an entirely innocent person, we can
save the lives of 10 innocent people
A consequentialist would say that killing X is justified because
it would result in only 1 person dying, rather than 10 people
dying
A non-consequentialist would say it is inherently wrong to
murder people and refuse to kill X, even though not killing X
leads to the death of 9 more people than killing X
Real life example

In the 1960s every state had a number of large hospitals for patients with all types of
mental problems ranging from schizophrenia to severe mental retardation. These places
were not elegant; you wouldnt want your grandmother to be there. But they were warm,
provided a bed and three meals a day, made certain that the patient took the appropriate
medications, and had physicians to care for the various other problems that mentally ill
people may develop. They were large and rather impersonal, but they were not bad.
It was decided that it would be more dignified to close these large hospitals and keep the
people in small communities closer to their homes. As a result, the hospitals were closed, but
few community homes were built. The consequence was that thousands of mentally ill
homeless people were forced onto the streets. In most cities these unfortunates are to be
found sleeping in cardboard boxes, eating out of dumpsters, and not receiving medical care.
No matter what the intention was at the time of the decision, the consequence was
morally bad. Therefore, by utilitarian ethics, we would judge the action to have been wrong
and bad.
Forms of Consequentialism

Hedonism states that people should maximize

human pleasure.
Utilitarianism states that people should maximize
human welfare or well-being, or happiness
Act Consequentialism
Rule Consequentialism
Act Utilitarianism
Rule Utilitarianism
Others
Utilitarianism

The classic theory of results-based ethics

Utilitarianism says an 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.
An act that produces more good than harm has greater value than
act that produces more harm than good.
Greatest number of people the majority; not everyone will be
pleased, but by respecting the will of most people will bring the
greatest happiness to most people
Where do we see examples of utilitarianism?
Jeremy Bentham

Father of Utilitarianism
it is the greatest
happiness of the greatest
number that is the measure
of right and wrong

A utilitarian is someone
who believes that the moral
quality of an act is governed British Philosopher
by the consequences. 1748-1832
Utilitarianism Egoism
We should act to maximize
the happiness of the
greatest number of people
We should always act to
affected by the action.
maximize our own individual
Stresses greatest number of
interests.
people - the majority Self-interest is most important
Reduces the egoism of self- Not concerned with others
importance; no one persons interests
happiness is more important
than anyone elses
Interest in others and
ourselves
Appeals of Utilitarianism

Utilitarian ethics plays a very large part in everyday life

because it is simple and appeals to common sense:
Sensible to base ethics on producing happiness and reducing
unhappiness when considering decisions
Links doing good with happiness, and doing evil with
unhappiness
Works for personal & public decisions
Considering policies What laws and govt regulations would give the
most happiness to the most people?
Linked to results bottom line thinking
Does not ask about subjective intuition or feelings, rather one wants
results. Think of the Calvin & Hobbes cartoon shown earlier.
Appeals of Utilitarianism

Aims to be impartial welfare of each person is equally

morally important; self & others well-being counts
Conflict resolution by way of applying the principle of
utility goal is to maximize well-being
Help determine which choices to make in difficult decisions
Focus on one question: Which option best maximizes well-being for
the all?
Moral flexibility
Allows or provides excuses for immoral actions to improve
overall welfare; ok to do harm others or make an immoral choice
when overall well-being is the consequence.
Drawbacks of Utilitarianism

How is happiness measured?

Does not consider issue of distributive justice
Some people (the majority) end up being better off than the
minority
Fails to value all people in an adequate manner
Majority vs. minority
Does not consider how one gets to the desired end
Ignores morality of acts per se
For example does not consider how a person could justify
breaking/manipulating a rule in order to obtain the most
desirable consequences.
Act Consequentialism

Act consequentialism looks at every single moral

choice; views a particular action is morally good
only if it produces more overall good than any
alternative action.
Requires evaluation and research of the possible
consequences of any action in order to make an ethically sound
choice
Act consequentialism is flexible and can take account of any set
of circumstances
Drawbacks of act consequentialism

In practice people don't assess the ethical

consequences of every single act because they
don't have the time.

ACT BEHAVIOR CIRCUMSTANCES INTENT END/GOAL

This evaluation process can be time consuming, difficult, and sometimes

unpredictable.
Drawbacks of act consequentialism

Attractive in theory but often impractical & difficult

to apply to real life moral decisions
Every moral decision is a completely separate case that must
be fully evaluated
Thorough research on consequences of acts impracticable &
costly
Slows down decision making
Exceptions can occur
For example: very serious moral choice has to be made, or in unusual
circumstances, individuals may well think hard about the consequences
of particular moral choices in this way.
Drawbacks of act consequentialism

Bad for society if adopted by everyone

Difficult to predict the moral decisions made by other people
great uncertainty about how they will behave
Lead to a collapse of mutual trust in society - fear that
prejudice, bias, and/or strongly influence affect moral
decisions
Fortunately because of the analytical impracticality of act
consequentialism as a general moral process we don't have to
worry much about affect on society.
Rule Consequentialism

Rule consequentialism states an action is morally right

just because it is required by an optimific social rule.
Optimific = producing the best possible outcomes
Rule consequentialism teaches:
Moral rules are chosen solely on the basis of their
consequences good consequence = good moral rule
Whether acts are good or bad depend on moral rules

For example, according to rule consequentialism we consider

lying to be wrong because we know that in general lying produces
bad consequences.
Considerations for rule consequentialism

Practical and efficient

Moral rules already exist or established individuals do not
need to carry out task of research before they take an action
The rules adopted are the rules that produce the best results if
adopted by most people.
Moral decision making can be quick and efficient

For example, when an individual has a moral choice to make

they can ask themselves Is there's an appropriate rule to
apply? and then apply it.
Drawbacks of rule consequentialism

Less flexible
General moral rules do not always produce the best result for
individual and unique cases
Short term vs. long term consequences can vary
Unforeseen unintended consequences could result
No one size fits all application amongst different groups
Group Discussion Paper:

Please respond as a group:

1. Identify 3 examples of moral decisions that utilize utilitarianism
tenants. At least two should be agriculturally, food or apparel
industried based. Briefly describe what they are and why you identify
them with utilitarianism

Select a spokesperson to share with class