PHILOS 1332 Study Guide - Final Guide: Organ Transplantation, Net Impact, Consequentialism
4 Oct 2018
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Actions are right as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. Suppose that bill punches ted in the jaw, just for fun. The utilitarian would tell us that this action is wrong, and they would reason in the following sort of way: Utilitarianism tells us that we should look at the consequences of an action to figure out whether it was right or wrong. You can combine these features to form different views. In particular, you could have a consequentialist view that isn"t utilitarianism by rejecting one of (or all of) (2)-(4). The greatest happiness principle: the right action is the one that maximizes net overall happiness (or utility). This is the balance of pains and pleasures for that individual. Now take the balance of pains and pleasures for each person and weigh them equally. (equality)
