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    Sidgwick's Methods of Ethics demonstrates that objective ... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Moore should revise his consequentialism to hold that one ought to do the action one has reason to believe will produce the best consequences, rather than the action that actually will produce the best consequences.

    Sidgwick's Methods of Ethics demonstrates that objective and subjective 'ought' claims serve distinct deliberative roles, neither of which can substitute for the other without theoretical loss.

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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Subjective 'ought' (what I desire/prefer) guides action while objective 'ought' (what is universally required) provides moral justification.
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    • 2.Conflating these roles creates paradox: either morality reduces to preference, or deliberation becomes divorced from practical motivation.
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    • 3.Sidgwick's dualism preserves both egoism's rational appeal and utilitarianism's universalist claims as legitimate but distinct frameworks.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Distinguishing 'ought' by role assumes they have separate truth-conditions, but 'ought' likely has unified semantics across contexts.
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    • 2.The claim that neither substitutes 'without loss' may overstate disagreement; objective and subjective considerations may integrate coherently.
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    • 3.Sidgwick's methods ultimately converge normatively (egoism ≈ utilitarianism at the ideal), suggesting the distinction is epistemic, not fundamental.
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    Key Terms

    Deliberative roles(describing what objective and subjective claims each do in decision-making)
    The different jobs or purposes that different types of reasoning play when you're trying to make a decision about what to do.
    Methods of Ethics(the main work being referenced)
    Sidgwick's famous book that explores different ways of thinking about what we morally ought to do—basically a guide to ethical decision-making.
    Objective 'ought' claims(contrasted with subjective claims)
    Statements about what someone should do based on facts or rules that exist independently of what any person thinks or feels (like 'you ought to keep your promises' because it's right in itself).
    Sidgwick, Henry(refers to the author being discussed)
    A 19th-century British philosopher who wrote extensively about ethics and how we should think about right and wrong actions.
    Subjective 'ought' claims(contrasted with objective claims)
    Statements about what someone should do based on their personal desires, feelings, or goals (like 'you ought to study hard' because you want to get into college).
    Theoretical loss(what happens if you try to replace one type of claim with the other)
    When you lose important explanatory power or accuracy in how well your theory explains something by removing or replacing a key part of it.

    Connections

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    Consequentialism1 linked

    Related

    Conflating these roles creates paradox: either morality reduces to preference, o...Distinguishing 'ought' by role assumes they have separate truth-conditions, but ...Moore should revise his consequentialism to hold that one ought to do the action...Sidgwick's dualism preserves both egoism's rational appeal and utilitarianism's ...

    Details

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    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
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    +3 moreShow less
    Sidgwick's methods ultimately converge normatively (egoism ≈ utilitarianism at t...Subjective 'ought' (what I desire/prefer) guides action while objective 'ought' ...The claim that neither substitutes 'without loss' may overstate disagreement; ob...