Moral uncertainty for consequentialists

被引:0
|
作者
Bukoski, Michael [1 ]
机构
[1] Florida State Univ, Tallahassee, FL 32306 USA
来源
关键词
consequentialism; utilitarianism; moral uncertainty; maximize expected choiceworthiness; decision procedure;
D O I
10.1093/pq/pqae139
中图分类号
B [哲学、宗教];
学科分类号
01 ; 0101 ;
摘要
How might an agent's moral uncertainty affect what they ought to do? One approach posits principles independent of all first-order moral theories to provide impartial guidance to those uncertain about which moral theory is true; a popular candidate is the principle of maximizing expected choiceworthiness (MEC). Another approach focuses on what first-order moral theories themselves might say about the moral implications of moral uncertainty. This paper considers the latter question in the context of consequentialism by exploring how two consequentialist strategies for dealing with non-moral uncertainty could be extended to moral uncertainty. My conclusion is that a consequentialist could plausibly adopt maximizing expected goodness as a standard of rightness, but not MEC, and that neither is likely to be part of the best consequentialist decision procedure. This result refutes the common suspicion that MEC represents a distinctively consequentialist approach to moral uncertainty.
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页数:21
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