PHIL 120W: Lecture 8 (Consequentialism & Deontology)

Absolutist Deontology

The view that certain actions (like harming an innocent) are morally forbidden regardless of the consequences

Agent-Neutral Value

Value that is independent of the individual person, value from no particular point of view

Agent-relative value

Value that is relative to or for the agent for whom the object or outcome is good

Consequentialism

A family of moral views holding that the only morally relevant factors are the goodness or badness of the outcomes of an act

Deontology

The view that there are morally relevant facts like rights and duties that function as constraints against performing acts, even for the sake of overall good

Moderate Deontonlogy

The view that harming an innocent is forbidden up to a certain threshold beyond which it becomes permissible for the sake of the greater good

Objective value

The view that an object has value independent of a subject’s attitude towards it

subjective value

The view that the subjective attitude of valuing is what creates or confers value onto an object

Utilitarianism of Rights

Structure where minimizing rights violations is treated as an end-state goal rather than a side-constraint