[ExI] Consequentialism

William Flynn Wallace foozler83 at gmail.com
Sun Aug 25 15:51:30 UTC 2019


The obvious problem with this is that it is saying that the end
justifies the means.
And this can be used to justify any morally dubious conduct.  bill k

But this is a contradiction.  If the end justifies the means, then the
means are not morally dubious.  Logical error here.
(no, I am not a consequentialist)

bill w

On Sun, Aug 25, 2019 at 10:00 AM BillK via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> John has raised the question -
> "how can anyone who can see the beauty in science and the magnificence
> of the universe have the slightest sympathy for these sphincters?"
> ---------------
>
> Apart from requiring attendance at Aunt Agatha's School of Charm and
> Etiquette,
> this is a direct statement of consequentialism.
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consequentialism>
> Quote:
> Consequentialism is the class of normative ethical theories holding
> that the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for any
> judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct. Thus, from
> a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right act (or omission from
> acting) is one that will produce a good outcome, or consequence.
> ---------
>
> The obvious problem with this is that it is saying that the end
> justifies the means.
> And this can be used to justify any morally dubious conduct.
>
> Definition of "the end justifies the means" -
> —used to say that a desired result is so good or important that any
> method, even a morally bad one, may be used to achieve it.
> "They believe that the end justifies the means and will do anything to get
> their candidate elected".
> ------------
>
> Therefore this requires that they must define what they mean by "good"
> consequences and how this "good" offsets the bad consequences of all the
> "justified" evil or illegal actions.
> As with all philosophy people usually compromise. Absolute rules need
> exceptions to deal with the rough and tumble of human existence.
>
> BillK
>
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