Intuitions and the Demands of Consequentialism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12228772 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matthew Tedesco (0000-0002-3250-4145, Beloit College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 94-104 |
| Publication date | 2011-02-15 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Utilitas (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0953-8208 • E-ISSN: 1741-6183 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0953820810000476 |
| OpenAlex | W2056520174 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 19 |
One response to the demandingness objection is that it begs the question against consequentialism by assuming a moral distinction between what a theory requires and what it permits. According to the consequentialist, this distinction stands in need of defense. However, this response may also beg the question, this time at the methodological level, regarding the credibility of the intuitions underlying the objection. The success of the consequentialist's response thus turns on the role we assign to intuitions in our moral methodology. After presenting the demandingness objection to consequentialism and revealing the underlying methodological stalemate, I break the stalemate by appealing to research in the cognitive neuroscience of intuitions. Given the evidence for the hypothesis that our moral intuitions are fundamentally emotional (rather than rational) responses, we should give our intuitions a modest (rather than robust) role in our moral methodology. This rescues the consequentialist's response to the demandingness objection
Consequentialism · Credibility · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Stalemate · Emotions and Moral Behavior · Free Will and Agency · Law · Philosophy · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
Killing, Letting Die, and the Trolley Problem
Decision-Theoretic Consequentialism and the Nearest and Dearest Objection
Ethics and Intuitions
How (and where) does moral judgment work?
Normativity and Epistemic Intuitions
The emotional dog and its rational tail
An fMRI Investigation of Emotional Engagement in Moral Judgment
Moral Demands in Nonideal Theory
Utilitarianism
The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of the Double Effect
Famine, Affluence, and Morality
Outline of a Decision Procedure for Ethics
Ideal Code, Real World
The Rejection of Consequentialism
| Citations per year | 0.08 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2014 - 2014 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |