HPS 0613 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Rule Utilitarianism, Act Utilitarianism, Moral Relativism
24 Jan 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Truth ( correspondence theory ): correspondence between a belief and a fact. Descriptive value (d): something an individual or group values. Normative value (n): something objectively valuable, independently of what anyone thinks. Family of meta-ethical views holding that there are no moral facts or truths. Moral facts or truths are factual or true within a particular cultural system. Mill (1806-1873): holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. Where: x is an act or rule, h"s are happiness of individual persons given x. Utility principle: if net happiness (x) is greatest, do x. Act utilitarianism: x is an individual act. Rule utilitarianism: x is a general rule. Withholding a scary but inconsequential diagnosis will lead to the most happiness. Empirically determinable, computable solution (e. g. qaly"s, cost-benefit analysis) Hard to anticipate every consequence of our actions.
