consequentialism examples in everyday life

Continued deception about a serious matter is difficult, so at the outset you must take into account the chance that you will fail or give up. If the outcome is good, how one achieved the outcome is not that important. BBC 2014 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Sharp criticisms of laissez-faire capitalism and militarism sit side-by-side with denouncements of . Another criticism of consequentialism is its reliance on calculation and prediction. . Consequentialism is a theory of normative ethics that states that an actions value is determined by its consequences. Consequentialism suggests that to set a speed limit rightly, you must balance such considerations accurately. So you may prefer a different version of consequentialism. and since my behaviour is based on my assessment of the consequences, should the rightness or wrongness of an act be assessed on what I thought was going to happen or what actually happened? In other words, in the end, the outcome always justifies the means. Giving Voice To Values View All Eight short . Hence another kind of theory has been suggested, which might or might not be regarded as a version of consequentialism. Here are two simple examples of such theories: Egoistic Consequentialism: Of all the things a person might do at any given moment, the morally right action is the one that has the best consequences for that person. But Expectable Consequentialism has a strange implication. Your email address will not be published. In Section 2 we shall look at two initial reasons to think consequentialism is true and some worries about those reasons. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that determines right from wrong by focusing on outcomes. For if good consequences is meaningless, then it cannot be correct to define right action in terms of good consequences, as consequentialism normally does. Rule consequentialism holds that rules should be written regarding their likely outcomes, not necessarily on their inherent good or bad nature. Now, suppose that you do not happen to know whether this machine always yields heads or always tails. (At least that is true of the surgery example.) (From 3). Pleasures pass by as quickly as actions. 7 Real Life Examples Of Deontology - StudiousGuy Get custom essays. 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. Consequentialism's underlying moral framework assumes that good outcomes are preferable to bad ones; that happiness is preferable to pain, and that consequences should be measured accordingly. If the evil group was so cleverly deceptive that even the Better Business Bureaus web site said they do good work fighting malaria, then you may think the damage done by my money was not my fault. examples of moral decisions in everyday life Reviewers ensure all content reflects expert academic consensus and is backed up with reference to academic studies. Consequentialism | Psychology Wiki | Fandom Suppose that by killing X, an entirely innocent person, we can save the lives of 10 other 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, It seems sensible to base ethics on producing happiness and reducing unhappiness, It seems sensible to base ethics on the consequences of what we do, since we usually take decisions about what to do by considering what results will be produced. By contrast, the deontological theories of John Locke and Immanuel Kant are nonconsequentialist. And if you are a skilled surgeon, anything that hampers your operations will hurt people. Consequentialism, as the name suggests, refers to a family of ethical theories which judge the morality of a given action based on its consequences. We may sometimes act not to produce a benefit, but in order to obey a principle we accept. Another important point about consequences is that the actual consequences of an action, beyond the action itself, need not be actual outcomes. That does not mean consequentialism tells you to leave me entirely alone. In one sense if can be argued that the practice of theory of consequentialism has practical value and application in criminal justice. 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. 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. Consequentialism is an ethical theory that judges whether or not something is right by what its consequences are. According to act utilitarianism, then, the right thing to do tomorrow is to go out and do charity work; it is wrong to stay home and watch television all day. One could produce more overall happiness in the world by doing charity work tomorrow than by watching television all day tomorrow. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Should it count if it is based on a factual mistake or if it is malicious? That is called 'rule consequentialism'. Hedonism is a form of consequentialism that approves of actions that produce pleasure and avoid pain. The concept of consequentialism has been widely discussed in philosophical circles for centuries, and its implications are far-reaching. Example If in consequence ethics you should only care about the good that comes from an act, it seems as if unethical acts can be justified if they result in a good outcome. See Frey (1984). One worry about this shorter argument is that Premise 2 may be false. Viktoriya Sus is an academic writer specializing mainly in economics and business from Ukraine. For example, suppose there is a machine that tosses a fair coin with such precision that whenever you press the Toss button, the coin always comes up heads. Another worry is that it is obscure whether there is anything sensible that might be meant by a greater or lesser amount of satisfaction of desire. Are all desires to count or only those that exist at the time of the action or the decision (even if they disappear before most of the consequences arrive)? Her expectation that it will produce or promote that good outcome is her reason for performing the action. Now, serious inequality in external goods tends to reduce the total happiness. 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. One worry about the above argument is that it is not clear why we should think Premise 1 is true. Thus, a 'morally right' action would be concluded based on the achievement of the best possible outcome. Consequentialism - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy However, employers may have rules that leave no room for judgment on consequences for violations of the ethics code. We formed four focus groups containing 6-9 participants each. Suppose you are on average just as happy as I am, but you live twice as long. As Brad Hooker, the world's leading rule consequentialist, argues, rule consequentialism is not plausibly motivated by a consequentialist commitment to outcomes being as good as possible: the case for rule consequentialism is instead that it impartially justifies intuitively plausible moral rules. Utilitarianism Meaning. One of the main reasons to investigate moral theory is to learn how to approach these questions reasonably. The virtue ethics approach focuses on the " integrity" of the moral actor. 14 Examples of Globalization - Simplicable Respect The Elders. The most traditional view among Consequentialists is that the only kind of result that is good in itself is happiness. morecambe fc owners examples of moral decisions in everyday life. So, for example, according to rule consequentialism we consider lying to be wrong because we know that in general lying produces bad consequences. But if I desire something slightly and then intensely, which counts? BBC - Ethics - Introduction to ethics: Consequentialism If I point to a pebble and say that it is a good pebble, you will not know what I mean. "For example, you can hold the door open for someone, pick up trash that you see on. Consequentialism is a normative theory of ethics that offers a systematic approach to reaching ethical and moral conclusions. To keep a big secret, you must actively mislead and deceive people and keep them at a distance. If there were just one option that is obligatory, then the choice would be easy. 30 videos - one minute each - introduce newsworthy scandals with ethical insights and case studies. This says that the 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. But if quantity of life were the only kind of good result, then a long happy life would be no better than a long unhappy life. You need only keep her bound and gagged in the cellar and force her to sign the checks. 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. New York: Routledge. On the one hand, one might think it is an objection, since we are responsible for doing what is morally right and so we must be able to know what is morally right. For instance, most people would agree that lying is wrong. Consequentialism, as its name suggests, is simply the view that normative properties depend only on consequences. For example, it sounds a bit odd to say that when you call someone a good person, you are calling her a desirable person. On "Consequentialism" and the Capability Approach - Taylor & Francis Double Consequentialism says his choice is morally right, even though his decision was not based on estimates of consequences and went against his estimates. Ethical egoism has no solutions to offer when a problem arises involving conflicts of interest. As mentioned above, in consequentialism the consequences of an action are everything the action brings about, including the action itself. When directed toward making social, economic, or. If you happen to be in charge of setting speed limits, you might be thinking that a bad result is a death: the fewer deaths, the better. If you get involved in meddling, can you trust yourself to meddle in the right direction and with adequate care? (2014, September 22). State consequentialism looks at how government laws and policies can affect citizens lives positively or negatively, depending on their outcome (Scheffler, 2009). He may or may not find consequentialism plausible, but in any case he knows he does not have a solid theoretical understanding of rightness; so he reasonably decides to trust his communitys confident view and does not pursue the scheme. Oxford: Oxford University Press. So also are community religious leaders, community doctors, bakers, shoe-sales people, and the like. It's hard to measure and compare the 'goodness' of those consequences. Stubbs, A. By Posted when did harry styles dad passed away In mckayla adkins house Consequentialism is based on two principles: Whether an act is right or wrong depends only on the results of that act The more good consequences an act produces, the better or more right that act. Consequentialism and the Law in Medicine - Oxford Academic "Do not lie" is the most taught ethics by our parents, teachers, and everyone around. Or suppose the recommendation that comes from you friend, your mother, your heart, or your prior resolution, reflects insight into the implications of your action that would not be reflected in the conscious estimates of consequences you might be able to work up on the spur of the moment. So, they agree that consequentialism is true. If you decide by looking to the overall consequences, you do not really love that person. While there are many varieties of consequentialism, their common thread is that, as the name suggests, normative evaluation of particular actions or rules depends on an analysis of consequences alone. Act utilitarianism often shows "the end justifies the means" mentality. Another worry about the above argument is that it presupposes that the notion of overall benefit makes sense. 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. Ethical Absolutism and the Ideal Observer., Foot, Philippa. The Teleological Ethical Theories: [Essay Example], 505 words

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consequentialism examples in everyday life