Consequences of consequentialism

Abstract

“Consequences of Consequentialism” argues for a consequentialism with a broad conception of consequence and of intrinsic value. Such latitude may convert the consequentialism defended into a theory almost any ethicist could embrace; but this may be a virtue and is hardly a “refutation” (compare compatibilism’s denial of an opposition between determinism and free will). Issues important for any ethical theory are considered carefully: (i) rights, (ii) subjectivity vs. objectivity, (iii) agent-relativity, (iv) the implications of the necessary connection between bringing about a consequence and bringing about the bringing about of that consequence, and (v) the demands of consequentialism-does it imply that we are all moral monsters?