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    Buddhist ethics prioritizes intention over consequences i... — Carmelics
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    Buddhist ethics prioritizes intention over consequences in moral evaluation

    Consequentialism
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Buddhism emphasizes the intention with which an act was performed more than the benefit or harm that actually resulted
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    • 2.The case of Channa demonstrates that a harmful outcome does not negate moral goodness when intention was good
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.The Pali Canon's doctrine of kamma evaluates actions by their vipāka (fruits), making consequences constitutive of moral weight, not merely incidental.
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    • 2.Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga treats unwholesome outcomes as evidence of underlying cetanā defects, collapsing the intention/consequence distinction from within.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.The Channa case is exceptional precisely because the Vinaya normally assigns pārājika offenses based on outcomes regardless of intent, undermining its generalizability.
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    • 2.Mark Siderits argues in 'Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy' that Buddhist reductionism about persons entails that moral evaluation must track causal chains, not agent-internal states alone.
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    Topics

    Moral ResponsibilityConsequentialism

    Related

    Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga treats unwholesome outcomes as evidence of underlyin...Buddhism emphasizes the intention with which an act was performed more than the ...Mark Siderits argues in 'Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy' that Buddhis...The Channa case is exceptional precisely because the Vinaya normally assigns pār...
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    The Pali Canon's doctrine of kamma evaluates actions by their vipāka (fruits), m...The case of Channa demonstrates that a harmful outcome does not negate moral goo...

    Similar

    In Buddhist ethics, moral merit is determined by the quality of intent...85%Buddhist ethics judges actions primarily by the intention behind them,...82%Second-order reasons make a difference in assessing actions in terms o...79%The moral value of an action does not depend on mere chance or acciden...78%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: ethics-indian-buddhism
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    Any interpretation of Buddhist ethics must find room for the absolutely crucial role of intention. There are many contexts in which Buddhism seems to emphasize the intention with which an act was performed much more than the benefit or harm that actually resulted. One case often cited is that of Channa, who presented a gift of food to the Buddha which gave him dysentery and thus caused his death. Since Channa’s intention was to perform a meritorious act of generosity, the Buddha tells his follow
    Extraction notes

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

    Details

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