PHI-10 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Consequentialism, Ethics
Document Summary
Mill must (1) find a way of making motives matter to morality. While (2) still keeping the basic focus on outcomes. Motives matter because they tell us whether anything really admirable or evil happen. Mill"s three stage response (page 45 footnote: keep focus on consequences for evaluation of action as right/wrong, being motives in for the evaluation of other things, such as people, character-traits, and admiration/blame. Make motives relevant to evil of people, their character, admiration/blame. How can mill define good/bad moral has written has outcomes-based approach: saving drowning man from greed is right, but not admirable, and harming someone accidentally is wrong, but not blameworthy/evil. Mill: good/bad motives are those from which beneficial/harmful actions are likely to arise. Analogy: a glass is fragile if it is likely to break when dropped, but not 100% of the time. So: we define the value of motives by reference to their typical outcomes. (tendency, likelihood)
