Consequentialist options

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Abstract

According to traditional forms of act-consequentialism, an action is right if and only if no other action in the given circumstances would have better consequences. It has been argued that this view does not leave us enough freedom to choose between actions which we intuitively think are morally permissible but not required options. In the first half of this article, I will explain why the previous consequentialist responses to this objection are less than satisfactory. I will then attempt to show that agents have more options on consequentialist grounds than the traditional forms of act-consequentialism acknowledged. This is because having a choice between many permissible options can itself have value.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)276-302
Number of pages26
JournalUtilitas
Volume26
Issue number3
Early online date28 Apr 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2014

Keywords

  • Normative Ethics
  • Consequentialism
  • Moral Freedom

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