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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
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    42
    Apparent counterexamples such as desiring virtue for its ... — Carmelics
    Home/Virtue Ethics
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Apparent counterexamples such as desiring virtue for its own sake do not refute the claim that happiness is the only thing desirable in itself

    ConsequentialismVirtue Ethics
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • Desires for virtue for its own sake are not inconsistent with happiness being the only thing desirable in itself
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.Aristotle's account of eudaimonia treats virtuous activity as constitutive of flourishing, not merely instrumental to a separable hedonic state.
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    • 2.Mill's assimilation of virtue into happiness conflates the psychological fact of what people desire with the normative question of what is intrinsically desirable.
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    • 3.If happiness expands to include every intrinsically desired end, the claim that happiness alone is desirable becomes vacuously true rather than substantive.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.G.E. Moore's open question argument shows 'desirable' cannot be analytically reduced to 'productive of happiness' without committing the naturalistic fallacy.
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    • 2.If virtue is genuinely desired for its own sake and not as a means, it constitutes an independent end, making happiness merely one good among several.
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    Topics

    Virtue EthicsConsequentialism

    Related

    Aristotle's account of eudaimonia treats virtuous activity as constitutive of fl...Desires for virtue for its own sake are not inconsistent with happiness being th...G.E. Moore's open question argument shows 'desirable' cannot be analytically red...If happiness expands to include every intrinsically desired end, the claim that ...
    +2 moreShow less
    If virtue is genuinely desired for its own sake and not as a means, it constitut...Mill's assimilation of virtue into happiness conflates the psychological fact of...

    Similar

    Desires for virtue for its own sake are not inconsistent with happines...89%Other things, such as virtue, are desired for their own sake but only ...85%The fact that people desire things other than happiness does not refut...83%Things desired for their own sake, such as virtue, are desired as such...83%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: mill-moral-political
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    We have focused so far on understanding Mill’s version of utilitarianism, especially his conceptions of happiness and duty. Now we should consider his justification of utilitarianism, which he offers in his discussion of the “proof” of the principle of utility in Chapter IV. Mill claims that the utilitarian must claim that happiness is the one and only thing desirable in itself (IV 2). He claims that the only proof of desirability is desire and proceeds to argue that happiness is the one and onl
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit