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Quote by Dale Jamieson

“Kantians are saddled with absolutist views, Aristotelians are accused of vagueness, and there is almost no horror to which Consequentialists are innocent of, according to some critics. While all these families of views have been victimized in these ways, Consequentialists have gotten the worst of it. I think this may have something to do with the fact that Kant and Aristotle are acknowledged to be great philosophers, and we tend to read the greats sympathetically, while Consequentialism is a family of views not rooted in the work of a single great man to whom this kind of deference is owed.”

Quote by Dale Jamieson

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Limited information is available about Dale Jamieson, who was born on October 21, 1947, and is of an unknown profession. more

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“The Consequentialist trinity is typically regarded in this way: Bentham is crude, Mill's writings are full of howlers and inconsistencies, and Sidgwick was too smart to fully embrace Consequentialism. All of these great traditions in moral philosophy express strands of our moral consciousness and they should all be treated as research programs rather than as fully determinate views that can be leveled by a counterexample or by a clever argument.”

“Acts are right in virtue of the goodness of their consequences.”

Virtue Goodness Consequence

Author:Dale Jamieson

“It's obvious that there are vast variety of consequentialist views, depending on what we think goodness consists in, what our notion of consequence is, and what level (or levels) of human action we think the principle should be applied.”

Thinking Should Humans Action Levels Views Principles Goodness Consequence Notion Obvious Variety Human Actions

Author:Dale Jamieson

“Critics of Consequentialism have often assumed that hedonism (or preference-satisfaction) must be the theory of the good, that the deontic principle must be maximizing, and that the principle should be applied to individual acts. Indeed, this version is often called "classical utilitarianism" and attributed to Bentham and sometimes even to Mill. Rather than a "classical" view it is a recent construction foisted on to the tradition.”

Should Sometimes Individual Views Principles Theory Tradition Critics Satisfaction Versions Construction Preference Mills Hedonism Utilitarianism Maximizing Consequentialism

Author:Dale Jamieson

“Bentham spent much of his life writing constitutions and proposing legal reform in the light of his utilitarianism. The evaluation of particular acts was hardly his concern. The psychology of his day was hedonistic and he worked in that framework and passed it on to Mill, but it is clear as day that Mill was not a hedonist in the sense in which we use that term today, though he used the language of pleasure and pain to express his views.”

“The idea that Bentham and Mill were maximizers is the greatest stretch of all. They were progressivists, committed to improving the societies in which they lived, not utopian maximizers.”

Ideas Committed Improving Mills Utopian

Author:Dale Jamieson

“Progressive Consequentialsm requires us to make the world better but we are under no obligation to bring about the best possible world.”

World Obligation Progressive

Author:Dale Jamieson

“In the face of the collective action problems that are at the heart of the environmental crisis, consequentialists should seek to inculcate the "green virtues" which includes the virtue of cooperativeness. This would not bring about the best possible world but it would set us on the path of making it better.”

World Should Heart Problem Action Faces Virtue Path Crisis Green Environmental Collectives Collective Action Environmental Crisis

Author:Dale Jamieson

“Some philosophers think that the idea of a consequentialist virtue theory is strange, but the real strength of consequentialism is that it can emulate the requirements of other moral theories when it is the case that acting on those theories would improve the world.”

Thinking World Ideas Real Acting Moral Cases Virtue Strange Theory Philosopher Requirements Emulate Real Strength Consequentialism

Author:Dale Jamieson

“What most forms of Consequentialism cannot do is require us to act in such a way as to make the world worse, yet many of the objections to Consequentialism purport to show that Consequentialism requires us to make the world a stinking, bloody mess. The ubiquity of these kinds of arguments shows you just how unseriously many of the critics take Consequentialism.”

World Way Kind Shows Form Argument Critics Mess Bloody Objections Ubiquity Consequentialism

Author:Dale Jamieson