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    The fact that ideal utilitarianism entails breaking a pro... — Carmelics
    Home/Justice & Punishment
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    The fact that ideal utilitarianism entails breaking a promise in the initial case is not a decisive objection against ideal utilitarianism

    ConsequentialismJustice & Punishment
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Ross's revised view may require revision to common-sense morality
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    • 2.The difference between Ross's revisions and ideal utilitarianism's revisions to common-sense morality is very thin
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    • 3.Ideal utilitarianism aligns with common-sense morality in many other important cases
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Promissory obligations derive their moral force precisely from their resistance to aggregative override, as Scanlon's contractualism demonstrates.
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    • 2.A theory that permits breaking promises whenever net good is maximized cannot adequately explain why promises generate special obligations at all.
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    • 3.If ideal utilitarianism dissolves the distinctive normative force of promising, then promise-breaking cases are not mere counterexamples but structural refutations.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.Ross's particularism holds that moral intuitions in specific cases carry irreducible evidential weight that systematic theories cannot simply override.
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    • 2.The intuition that one must keep this promise is not merely a data point to be outweighed by theoretical elegance but constitutes direct moral evidence.
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    Topics

    Justice & PunishmentConsequentialism

    Connections

    2 topics

    Moral Responsibility2 linkedTruth & Knowledge1 linked

    Related

    A theory cannot be decisively refuted by a single counterexample if it otherwise...A theory that permits breaking promises whenever net good is maximized cannot ad...Ideal utilitarianism aligns with common-sense morality in many other important c...If ideal utilitarianism dissolves the distinctive normative force of promising, ...
    +5 moreShow less
    Promissory obligations derive their moral force precisely from their resistance ...Ross's particularism holds that moral intuitions in specific cases carry irreduc...Ross's revised view may itself require revisions to common-sense morality

    Similar

    The ideal utilitarian can provide an interpretation of the promise81%Act utilitarianism cannot ground the special expectations that promise...80%Criticism directed against expected utility maximization does not nece...77%The ideal utilitarian interpretation of a promise can align with commo...77%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: william-david-ross
    View source passageHide passage
    Of course, Ross might drop the requirement that the fulfilment of a promise must produce pleasure for the promisee and suggest instead only the fulfilment of a promise be ‘bonific’ for someone (e.g., C) (RG 36; Ross 1928–29: 267–68). This seems to put him at odds with the plain man in other cases, however. Consider a deathbed promise with a different content, that A be buried with C, his wife. Suppose this promise is not bonific. Ross will have to say there is no reason to fulfil it (though perh
    Extraction notes

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

    Details

    The difference between Ross's revisions and ideal utilitarianism's revisions to ...
    The intuition that one must keep this promise is not merely a data point to be o...
    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit