CONSEQUENTIALISM

Consequentialism or teleological ethics holds that the value of an action

is determined entirely by its consequences and thus proposes that
ethical life should be forward looking, that is, concerned with maximising
the good and minimising the bad consequences of actions.

1. Ethical Egoism
- An act is right if and only if it is in the long-term interests of the person
who performs it
- Meaning: Act in your own self-interest

2. Act Utilitarianism / Hedonistic Utilitarianism

Jeremy Bentham (1748 - 1832)

- Act in such a way that the outcomes maximise pleasure and minimise
pain
- pleasure = happiness
- quantitative approach
- felicific calculus
- Intensity: How strong is the pleasure?
- Duration: How long will the pleasure last?
- Certainty or uncertainty: How likely or unlikely is it that the pleasure
will occur?
- Propinquity or remoteness: How soon will the pleasure occur?
- Fecundity: The probability that the action will be followed by
sensations of the same kind.
- Purity: The probability that it will not be followed by sensations of the
opposite kind.
- Extent: How many people will be affected?

John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873)

- Act so as to produce the greatest aggregate happiness among all

sentient beings, within reason.
- Bentham treats all forms of happiness as equal, whereas Mill argues
that intellectual and moral pleasures (higher pleasures) are superior to
more physical forms of pleasure (lower pleasures)
- qualitative approach
3. Ideal Utilitarianism

G.E. (George Edward) Moore (1873 - 1958)

- Not maximises pleasure, but maximises good

- Good = pleasure, beauty, knowledge (of intrinsic value)
- qualitative approach

4. Rule Utilitarianism

- Focus on moral rules rather than calculus

- Act based on general rules
- e.g. The stop sign is like the rule utilitarian approach. It tells drivers to
stop and does not allow them to calculate whether it would be better to
stop or not.
- In many cases general rules or practices are more likely to promote
good effects than simply telling people to do whatever they think is
best in each individual case.

NONCONSEQUENTIALISM
Nonconsequentialism is a normative ethical theory which denies that the
rightness or wrongness of our conduct is determined solely by the
goodness or badness of the consequences of our acts or the rules to
which those acts conform.

1. Kantian Ethics (Deontological / Duty Ethics)

- there is only 1 best moral option for rational human being in each
situation
- this is the categorical imperative (absolute command, without
exception, applies at all times)
- a morally right action must be done for the morally right motive i.e.
good will must act for the sake of duty
- will = human capacity to act/ will an act / want an act
- maxim = rules / principles
- Categorical Imperative
- Act on that maxim through which you can at the same time
will that it should become a universal law (Meaning: Act on that
principle that will become a universal law for everyone. Ask
yourself: What if everyone does the same?)
- Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your
own person or that of another, never simply as a means but always
at the same time as an end (Meaning: We must respect persons by
never using them as instruments for some goal)
- So act that your will can regard itself at the same time as making
universal law through its maxims (Meaning: You are a universal
law maker)
- Act on the maxim of a member who makes universal law for a
merely possible kingdom of ends (Meaning: Each member of a
community should regard his/her maxims as making law which
would govern the actions of all other members)

2. William Ross’s Prima Facie Duties (1877 - 1971)

- Each person has many relationships, e.g. promiser-promisee, creditor-

debtor, wife-husband, child-parent, friend-friend, etc
- There are prima facie duties in each relationship
- A prima facie duty is a duty that is binding (obligatory) other things
equal, that is, unless it is overridden or trumped by another duty or
duties. Meaning: where there is a prima facie duty to do something, it
is assumed you should be doing it unless override by a more important
duty.
- Whenever I have to make a moral decision in a situation in which more
than one prima facie duty applies, I must "study the situation as fully
as I can until I form the considered opinion that in the circumstances
one of them is more incumbent than any other. . . ."
- The prima facie duty I judge to be "more incumbent than any other" in
the situation is probably my "duty proper" or actual moral obligation.
- However, there is no ranking among the prima facie duties that applies
to every situation. Each situation must be judged separately.
- William Ross identified 7 types of prima facie duties
1. Fidelity - duty to fulfil (explicit and implicit) promises/agreements
into which one has entered.
2. Reparation - duty to make up for wrongful acts previously done
to others
 3. Gratitude - duty to repay others for past favours done for oneself
4. Justice - duty to prevent or correct such a mismatch between
persons' pleasure or happiness and their "merit"
5. Beneficence - duty to improve the conditions of others with
respect to virtue, intelligence, or pleasure
6. Self-improvement - duty to improve one's own condition with
respect to virtue or intelligence
7. Nonmaleficence - duty not to injure others
(not a complete list)

3. Virtue Ethics

Virtue Ethics focuses on the person’s character as the key element of

ethical thinking, rather than rules about the acts themselves
(Deontology) or their consequences (Consequentialism).

- Virtue ethics is an approach doesn’t emphasise rules, consequences

or particular acts
- It focuses on the kind of person who is acting
- The issue is not predominantly whether an intention is right, though
that is important; nor is it predominantly whether one is following the
correct rule; nor is it predominantly whether the consequences of
action are good, though these factors may be relevant.
- What is primary is whether the person acting is expressing good
character (moral virtues) or not
- Virtue ethics derives from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (his son’s
name)
- Virtue: the quality of moral excellence, righteousness, and
responsibility, a worthy practice or ideal (quality of your character)
- According to Aristotle, virtue is a mean (middle point) between two
extremes, both extremes are vices (either excess or deficiency)
Feeling or Action Excess (too much) Mean (mid point) Defect (too little)

Confidence Rashness Courage Cowardice

Sensual Pleasure Profligacy (Indulgence in Temperance (Moderate, Insensibility

sensual pleasure) self-restraint)

Shame Bashfulness (Too shy) Modesty Shamelessness

Giving Amusement Buffoonery (Clowning Wittiness Boorishness (Rude,

around) clumsy)

Truth telling about Boastfulness Truthfulness Self-depreciation

yourself

Friendship Obsequiousness (Ass Friendship Sulkiness (Withdrawn,

kisser) aloof)

- Alasdair Macintyre’s “After Virtue” (1929 - still alive!)

- Virtues are dispositions not only to act in particular ways but also to
feel in particular ways.
- One must create virtuous feelings or inclinations within, not merely
act virtuously.
- To act virtuously in not to act against inclination (as Kant thought),
but rather to act from inclinations that have been formed through
the cultivation of the virtues.