Shafer-Landau: Consequentialism & Relativism (Chapters 9, 10, 11, 19)

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering consequentialism, act utilitarianism, rule consequentialism, relativism, subjectivism, and their primary objections based on Chapters 9, 10, 11, and 19.

Consequentialism

The family of ethical theories holding that the morality of an action depends entirely on its results.

Optimific

Producing the greatest net balance of benefits over harms.

Act Utilitarianism

The most popular form of consequentialism (associated with Mill & Bentham), holding that an act is right if and only if it creates the greatest overall well-being.

Principle of Utility

The moral principle stating that an act is right if and only if it creates the greatest overall well-being.

Actual Results View

The standard consequentialist view that acts are judged morally by what really happens rather than by what was predicted.

Expected Results View

The consequentialist perspective that acts are judged morally by what could reasonably be predicted, evaluating the agent's intent rather than the act itself.

Moral Scope (Utilitarianism)

The boundary of moral standing, which Bentham expands to any entity capable of feeling pleasure or pain, thereby including non-human animals and excluding inanimate objects.

Demandingness Objection

The objection that utilitarianism requires constant optimific action, demanding excessive calculation and extreme self-sacrifice while eliminating personal choices and supererogation.

Supererogation

The category of actions that go above and beyond moral duty.

Impartiality Problem

The objection that utilitarianism treats everyone's well-being as completely equal, conflicting with common-sense loyalty by forbidding special moral weight to loved ones, family, or friends over strangers.

Vicarious Punishment

The practice of harming innocent people to stop riots or deter guerrillas, showing that consequentialism requires injustice whenever doing so yields the best overall results.

Injustice Objection

The objection that consequentialism forces agents to choose utility over justice whenever violating moral rights produces the best overall results.

Rule Consequentialism

The ethical theory holding that an act is right if and only if it follows a social rule whose general adoption creates the best results.

Rule Worship

The primary objection to rule consequentialism, arguing that it is irrational to follow a rule when breaking it in a specific situation would generate greater overall good.

Ethical Subjectivism

Individual relativism holding that moral standards are decided by individual opinion, meaning an action is right if and only if the agent approves of it or personal commitments allow it.

Cultural Relativism

The view that moral standards are decided by societal consensus, meaning an action is right if and only if it is allowed by the guiding ideals of the society in which it occurs.

Moral Infallibility

The relativist implication that basic moral commitments can never be mistaken, making individuals or societies immune to moral error.

Moral Progress Problem

The objection that relativism turns moral progress into an illusion, because without an external objective standard, society merely changes its code rather than improves it.

Contradiction Problem

The objection that subjectivism turns moral claims into subjective reports of approval or disapproval, allowing opposing claims to both be true and eliminating genuine moral disagreement.

Ideal Observer View

A relativist view holding that an act is morally right if and only if a fully rational, informed, and impartial observer would approve of it.

Ideal Observer Disagreement

The fatal objection to ideal observer relativism stating that if fully informed, ideal observers disagree on an action, morality becomes completely undefined or contradictory.