The demands of beneficence

Abstract

This article examines the demands of beneficence, or the moral obligation to promote good. The author observes that consequentialist principles of beneficence, such as ‘do whatever will bring about the best overall outcome’, are often considered too demanding, as they fail to take into account the level of compliance expected from others. The author proposes the ‘Compliance Condition’: a principle of beneficence should not increase in demand as expected compliance with that principle decreases. From this, a new ‘Cooperative Principle of Beneficence’ is presented, which requires each agent to act optimally to promote the good, but only to the extent that would be required if everyone were complying. This new principle is argued to be more coherent and satisfactory than existing principles and to correctly account for some counterintuitive situations involving obligations to help others. – AI-generated abstract.