Indirect consequentialism, friendship, and the problem of alienation

Abstract

Peter Railton has argued that the problem of alienation faced by consequentialism in regard to friendship can be overcome by moving from direct to indirect consequentialism, where an agents’ commitment to a consequentialist criterion of rightness takes the form of an internalised normative disposition governing their relationships, rather than being a motive or purpose in those relationships. We argue that this move fails because it mislocates the true source of the problem here. The importance of governing conditions in differentiating relationships indicates that the source of the problem goes beyond a consequentialist agent’s motives or purposes, and stems from such an agent’s normative dispositions themselves.