Consequentialism and Ethical Relativism (Shafer-Landau)

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the nature, attractions, and difficulties of consequentialism, utilitarianism, rule consequentialism, and ethical relativism from Russ Shafer-Landau's The Fundamentals of Ethics.

Consequentialism

An overarching family of normative ethical theories holding that the moral status of an action is determined entirely by its outcomes, guided by the core imperative: 'Do as much good as you can.'

Optimific

Producing the greatest overall net balance of good over bad (or least net bad) when compared to all alternative choices available at the moment of decision.

Intrinsic Good

Anything that is valuable for its own sake, such as happiness, knowledge, or autonomy, identified as the first step in the consequentialist decision procedure.

Intrinsic Bad

Anything that is inherently bad or disvaluable for its own sake, such as physical pain, mental suffering, or betrayal, identified as the second step in the consequentialist decision procedure.

Five-Step Consequentialist Decision Procedure

A systematic method for determining the right action: (1) Identify Intrinsic Good, (2) Identify Intrinsic Bad, (3) Determine Options, (4) Calculate Net Value, and (5) Choose the Best / Optimific Action.

Act Utilitarianism

A consequentialist theory classically developed by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill asserting that an action is morally right if and only if it produces the greatest net well-being across all sentient beings.

Principle of Utility

The foundational moral standard stating that an action is morally right if and only if it produces the greatest net well-being for the greatest number of beings.

Actual Results (Utilitarianism)

The view holding that an action's moral rightness depends entirely on outcomes that actually materialize (even unforeseen ones), meaning noble actions resulting in unexpected bad consequences are judged morally wrong.

Expected Results (Utilitarianism)

The view holding that moral rightness depends on reasonable expectations formed at decision time; classic utilitarians use this standard specifically to judge an agent's intentions rather than the rightness of an act.

Actions vs. Intentions Distinction

The strict utilitarian separation where an action is judged morally right or wrong solely by its outcomes, whereas an agent's intentions or character are judged praiseworthy or blameworthy based on motives and expected results.

Impartiality (Utilitarian Attraction)

The principle that everyone's well-being counts equally, where factors such as race, gender, social status, wealth, power, or nationality carry zero intrinsic moral weight.

Expansive Moral Community

An attraction of consequentialism that extends direct moral status to any entity capable of experiencing pleasure or pain, explicitly bringing non-human animals into the moral domain.

Util

A hypothetical, standardized unit of measurement for well-being; the lack of a standardized util creates a measurement challenge for calculating and comparing net happiness across individuals with different values.

Deliberation Demands

A demandingness objection stating that utilitarians must calculate the expected consequences and downstream long-term effects of all choices, risking paralysis by analysis in routine decisions.

Motivation Demands

A demandingness objection asserting that utilitarianism excessively requires moral agents to constantly maintain saint-like selflessness and remain perpetually motivated by the global good.

Supererogation (Utilitarian Problem)

Actions that go above and beyond the call of duty; utilitarianism eliminates supererogation because choosing the optimific action is always strictly mandatory, making anything less a moral violation.

Severe Impartiality (Demandingness)

The utilitarian requirement forbidding special favoritism toward family, friends, or loved ones, deeming actions such as spending $100\text{ dollars}$ on a child's gift morally wrong if that money could better prevent disease abroad.

No Intrinsic Rightness or Wrongness

The act consequentialist principle that no category of action (such as lying, torture, or murder) is intrinsically wrong; any act becomes morally mandatory if its consequences yield slightly higher net well-being.

Framing the Innocent

A classic objection showing that act utilitarianism requires falsely convicting an innocent person if doing so prevents a massive riot and saves dozens of lives, thus violating individual rights for social utility.

Vicarious Punishment

The practice of punishing the relatives of criminals, which act utilitarianism would endorse and require if doing so effectively deters crime and maximizes net overall welfare.

Exemplary Punishment

The practice of imposing unfairly severe or disproportionate sentences to intimidate others, which act utilitarianism would require whenever it maximizes net societal welfare.

Rule Consequentialism

An ethical theory asserting that an action is morally right if and only if it conforms to a set of rules whose general adoption would produce the best overall consequences.

Rule Worship

The core objection to rule consequentialism, arguing that it either irrationally clings to rules when breaking them would prevent catastrophe (abandoning the goal of maximizing goodness) or collapses back into act consequentialism by adding exceptions.

Metaethics

The subfield of ethics addressing the fundamental nature of morality, questioning whether objective moral standards exist or whether moral truth is created by human conventions.

Ethical Subjectivism

A metaethical theory claiming that an action is morally right or wrong relative to individual approval, making personal conviction the ultimate standard of morality.

Cultural Relativism

A metaethical theory claiming that an action is morally right or wrong relative to societal approval, meaning cultural norms establish the ultimate standard of morality.

Moral Infallibility (Relativism Problem)

A flaw of ethical relativism asserting that an individual's or society's core convictions cannot be mistaken, which logically forces genocidal or oppressive traditions to be deemed morally correct relative to that society.

Inability to Explain Moral Progress

A critical problem for relativism stating that because there is no objective moral benchmark, reforms like abolishing slavery represent merely a shift in social codes rather than genuine moral improvement.

The Contradiction Problem

A logical dilemma facing ethical subjectivism where an act simultaneously approved by one person and disapproved by another must be both right and wrong at the same time.

Subculture Paradox

A challenge for cultural relativism arising because individuals belong to multiple subcultures with conflicting values, leaving the theory unable to determine which standard dictates morality when subcultures clash.