Methodology and Moral Philosophy by Suikkanen Jussi Kauppinen Antti & Antti Kauppinen

Author:Suikkanen, Jussi,Kauppinen, Antti & Antti Kauppinen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

Concluding Remarks

I have tried to present at least a presumptive case for a certain form of consequentialism. If the major moves are right—i.e. that this standard is both maximally authoritative and practical—then I think the kind of consequentialism I’m pushing is on firmer ground than is consequentialism as a theory about what we practically ought to do.

Is it a new form of consequentialism? I’m not so sure. Certainly most present-day consequentialists do frame their theory as a response to the question of ‘What ought I to do?’ But perhaps they’re using the language of ‘ought’ to talk about whichever standard for evaluating action is thinnest and most authoritative—which, if I’m right, is the standard of goodness/fortunateness. It would be revealing to learn how other consequentialists respond to explications of the practical ‘ought’ concept in which its status as an evaluation of action qua action is made specific. My own response to talk of ‘acting well’ and ‘excellent rational agency’ has always been to think, ‘Who cares? I’m a lot of things—a thinker, a feeler, Dasein, a nexus of causal forces; what is the special significance of being a good, or “excellent,” agent?’ This suggests that I, at least, hadn’t been taking action-specific evaluation to be maximally authoritative in the first place.

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