Pub Date : 2020-03-25DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198844990.003.0004
A. Norcross
The standard consequentialist account of harm is given by the following principle: HARM An act A harms a person P just in case P is worse off, as a consequence of A, than she would have been if A hadn’t been performed. An act A benefits a person P just in case P is better off, as a consequence of A, than she would have been if A hadn’t been performed. In most cases, there are multiple different alternatives, and no context-free method of determining which is the appropriate one with which to compare A. Judgments of harm are thus always implicitly relative to alternatives. There is no fundamental fact of the form: A really harms (or benefits) P.
{"title":"Harm","authors":"A. Norcross","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198844990.003.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198844990.003.0004","url":null,"abstract":"The standard consequentialist account of harm is given by the following principle: HARM An act A harms a person P just in case P is worse off, as a consequence of A, than she would have been if A hadn’t been performed. An act A benefits a person P just in case P is better off, as a consequence of A, than she would have been if A hadn’t been performed. In most cases, there are multiple different alternatives, and no context-free method of determining which is the appropriate one with which to compare A. Judgments of harm are thus always implicitly relative to alternatives. There is no fundamental fact of the form: A really harms (or benefits) P.","PeriodicalId":260075,"journal":{"name":"Morality by Degrees","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130578304","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Should consequentialism simply equate rightness with goodness? It is usually assumed to be possible, and sometimes even desirable, for consequentialists to make judgments about the goodness of actions, in addition to states of affairs. Whether a particular action is good or bad, and how good or bad it is, are two such judgments. However, consequentialism cannot provide a satisfactory account of the goodness of actions, on the most natural approach to the question. Strictly speaking, a consequentialist cannot judge one action to be better or worse than another action performed at a different time or by a different person. Consequentialism is actually strengthened by the realization that actions can only be judged as better or worse than possible alternatives.
{"title":"Good and Bad Actions","authors":"A. Norcross","doi":"10.2307/2998340","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/2998340","url":null,"abstract":"Should consequentialism simply equate rightness with goodness? It is usually assumed to be possible, and sometimes even desirable, for consequentialists to make judgments about the goodness of actions, in addition to states of affairs. Whether a particular action is good or bad, and how good or bad it is, are two such judgments. However, consequentialism cannot provide a satisfactory account of the goodness of actions, on the most natural approach to the question. Strictly speaking, a consequentialist cannot judge one action to be better or worse than another action performed at a different time or by a different person. Consequentialism is actually strengthened by the realization that actions can only be judged as better or worse than possible alternatives.","PeriodicalId":260075,"journal":{"name":"Morality by Degrees","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122822357","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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