PHIL 2003 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: A Priori And A Posteriori, Consequentialism, Moral Reasoning
25 May 2016
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Deontological principles: general moral principles that connect moral rightness or wrongness (or what we morally ought or ought not to do) to a priori duties. A priori = knowledge we know before the incidence (plato) A posterior priori = knowledge we only learn during or after the incidence (aristotle) Consequentialist principles: general moral principles that connect the moral rightness or wrongness of actions (or what we morally ought or ought not to do) to the consequences of actions. Consequences of actions: results in the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Deontological principles, for example, can justify particular moral claims that conflict with the particular moral claims that consequentialist principles justify. To lie to your mom about the tuition is to treat her merely as a means to your own ends. No action that treats another human being merely as a means to an end ought to be done.
