61 pages • 2 hours read
The Fundamentals of Ethics
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Part 2, Chapters 9-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “Normative Ethics: Doing the Right Thing”
Chapter 9 Summary and Analysis: “Consequentialism: Its Nature and Attractions”
Consequentialism’s origins can be traced to John Wesley (1703–1791), the founder of the Methodist Church. Consequentialism states that an individual’s fundamental moral duty is to act in an optimific way (i.e. to achieve the greatest ratio of benefits over drawbacks) in order to maximize the total amount of good in the world. In other words, for any moral action someone takes, they are required to weigh all their options, determine the amount of benefits over drawbacks this action will cause, and then follow the one that yields the best results. Consequentialism inherently focuses on the future: A value judgment is determined by the anticipated results of any action, rather than their intention.
Ethical egoism is a form of consequentialism. It also weighs the morality of an action based on how much benefit it can bring to an individual and asks that the individual choose the option that allows them to maximize this value. Consequentialism can take different forms depending on what is selected to be intrinsically valuable. Thus, it is not one single theory but a portmanteau term for a group of theories.
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