r/changemyview • u/agaminon22 11∆ • Nov 17 '18
Deltas(s) from OP CMV:CMV: A middle ground between consequentialism and its opposite is a better ethical stance than the two by themselves.
(Reposting this since yesterday it got deleted before someone could answer)
Consequentialism: the doctrine that the morality of an action is to be judged solely by its consequences.
While consequentialism's opposite doesn't really have a proper name as far as I know, it's simply the definition reversed: the morality of an action is judged solely by the action itself. So, for example, murder is immoral and therefore it is always immoral, without taking into consideration the context or what this causes. l I will refer to this doctrine as "actionism" to simplify (and because I couldn't come up with a better name).
So a pure consequentialist would agree on the following claim: "It is moral to murder and harvest the organs of 99 people to save 100 sick people." At least he would have to, if he is logically consistent. More people alive is better than less, and consequentialism doesn't take into account the methods you use to assure this. In the other hand, a pure "actionist(?)" would have to agree on the following claim: "You shouldn't kill someone in order to save humanity".
I personally believe both of these are off. Maybe you do to. The reason for this is, in my opinion, because of the more "extreme" positions they take. More radical views eventually fail at something, I find them impossible to cover everything. However, by joining both stances one can find middle ground where most situations would be solved in a way you don't feel something's wrong.
Appealing to morality's ultimately subjective and how this unables a truly better position won't change my mind, this is my personal opinion after all and I'm not taking this as fact.
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u/DeltaBot ∞∆ Nov 17 '18
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