Handout 2 Flashcards
Determine the moral rightness
or wrongness of an action
based on the action’s
consequences or results.
Consequentialist Theories
An action is morally right if the decision-maker freely
decides in order to pursue either their desires (short-term)
or their interests (long-term)
Egoism
“To maximize collective utility”
Egoism
An action is morally right if it
results in the greatest amount of
good for the greatest amount of
people affected by the action.
Utilitarianism
“To maximize our utility”
Utilitarianism
Actions are right if they
tend to promote
happiness and wrong
as they tend to produce
the reverse of
happiness.
Greatest
Happiness
Principle
Egoism Proponents
Adam Smith and Milton Friedman
Utilitarianism Proponents
Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill
Looks at single actions and bases the
moral judgement on the amount of pleasure and the
amount of pain this single action causes
Act utilitarianism
Looks at classes of action and asks
whether the underlying principles of an action produce
more pleasure than pain for society in the long run.
Rule utilitarianism
Determine the moral rightness or
wrongness of an action based on
the action’s intrinsic features or
character
Non-Consequentialist Theories
Focuses on motives and the willingness of individuals to act for the good of others, even though that action might result in personal loss
Ethics of
Duties
Ethics of Duty Proponent
Immanuel Kant
Act as you would want all other people to act towards all other people. Act according to the maxim that you would wish all other rational people to follow as if it were a universal law.
Categorical Imperative
An action can only be
right if the rule guiding
that behavior should be
followed consistently by
everyone in all cases,
without contradiction.
Maxim 1: Consistency
