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Summary Consequentialism
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Summary of Consequentialism from Fundamentals of Ethics by Russ Shafer-Landau
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Consequentialism has been attributed to John Wesley (1702-1791). The consequentialistoutlook can be defined as do as much good as you can. G.E. Moore declared it plain that what
is right is whatever produces the most good. If you have a choice between two options, and the
first is less good than the second, choosing the first can't possibly be right. Any plausible moral
theory will insist on the central importance of doing good. We commonly justify our actions by
pointing to the good they did, and criticize actions by showing that they caused unnecessary
harm. There are many views about the morality of teh death penalty, but they can be sorted in
two major groups. In the first, consequentialist camp, people insist that such punishment is
justified only if it improves our lives. We must look at the future, and ask three questions: What
are the benefits of executing criminals? What are the drawbacks? Which policy would yield the
greatest cost-benefit ratio? A second group asks not about what the future will hold, but rather
what the past requires of us. Specifically, the focus is on whether certain people deserve to be
killed for the crimes they have committed. In this example the consequentialist approach to
ethics is made clear. Consequentialists are those who encourage us not to cry over spilt milk.
They direct our attention to the future, not to the past. They ask us to look at the consequences
of our actions or policies.
The Nature of Consequentialism
Structure
Consequentialism says that an action is morally required just because it produces the best
overall results (is optimific). There are five steps to determine if an act is optimific:
1. Identify what is intrinsically good - valuable in and of itself, and worth of having for its
own sake. Familiar candidates include happiness, autonomy, knowledge and virtue
2. Identify what is intrinsically bad. Examples might include physical pain, mental anguish,
sadistic impulses, and the betrayal of innocents.
3. Determine all of your options. Which actions are open to you at the moment?
4. For each option, determine the value of its results. How much of what is intrinsically
good will each action bring about? How much of what is intrinsically bad?
5. Pick the action that yields the greatest net balance of good over bad. That is the optimific
choice. That is your moral duty. Doing anything else is immoral.
Ethical egoism is a form of consequentialism. It identified just one thing - one's own self-interest
- as intrinsically good, and tells us that morally right actions are those that maximize this value.
Consequentialism is a family of theories, united by their agreement that results are what matter
in ethics.
According to act utilitarianism, well-being is the only thing that is intrinsically valuable. The
principle of utility states that an action is morally required just because it does more to improve
overall well-being than any other action you could have done in the circumstance. The important
point is that, according to act utilitarianism, acts are right just because they maximize the overall
amount of well-being in the world.
Maximizing Goodness
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