What is Consequentialism?

 Meet the Mind Behind the Idea

   Before we delve into "what is consequentialism?" Let's meet the mind behind the idea. A man by the name of Jeremy Bentham was a British philosopher and legal reformer who lived from 1748-1832. He introduced the world to utilitarianism, aka the backbone of modern consequentialism. His big idea? Bentham believed the right action was the one which created the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. 

    He even created something called "hedonic calculus" to try and measure how much pleasure or pain an action would cause a person. He believed laws and ethics should be based on logic and    results instead of tradition and emotion.

Bentham's work influenced governments, legal systems, and other philosophers, especially John Stuart Mill, who expanded his ideas. 

* Fun Fact: Bentham's preserved body is still on display at the University College London.

So, What Is Consequentialism?

   Consequentialism is the idea that the only thing that makes an action right or wrong is the result it produces. If something causes more good than harm it is the right thing to do. If it causes more harm than good, it is wrong. It doesn't matter what your intentions were, only what actually happens matters.

Brings More Good = RIGHT

Brings More Harm  = WRONG

Utilitarianism: The Most Common Version

  There are many different types of consequentialism the most known kind is utilitarianism. It essentially says the goal of our actions should be to create the most happiness for the most people.

  When we have to make a moral choice, we should ask ourselves: Which choice will help the most people, or reduce the most suffering?

  This way of thinking treats everyone's happiness equally. That means your happiness does not count more just because you are involved. Everyone affected by the action should be considered equal.

A Moral Dilemma Example

  Let's say you are an avenger in a Marvel movie. Thanos is about to snap his fingers and erase half the population in . You have a chance to stop him, but to do it, you have to sacrifice your fellow avenger Vision by destroying the mind stone in his head.

Wanda does not want to do it because she loves him. But from a utilitarian point of view, destroying the stone and saving half the universe is the right thing to do, even though it means losing someone important.

 Utilitarianism says: One life lost to save billions is the better outcome, no matter how painful the choice may be.

What Makes Consequentialism Hard to Grasp

  At first, consequentialism seems simple, just choose the action that creates the most happiness for the majority. But the more you think about it, the trickier it becomes.

   One of the things that make it hard is the idea that intentions do not matter. We are so used to thinking someone's actions are okay if their heart was in the right place. But, consequentialism says the only thing that actually matters is what happens, not what you meant to do. 

  Another difficult part is how it treats everyone's happiness equally. It sounds fair but in reality, it is hard to ignore personal connections. If you had to choose between saving your best friend or five strangers, consequentialism  says you should save the five strangers, even if you don't agree with it. There is also the idea of sacrificing one person for many. It goes against everything we as people believe about protecting innocent lives. But under this idea, the math wins.

Can You Measure Morality?

  Jeremy Bentham thought you could. He created a system to "add up" the amount of happiness or suffering an action might cause. This was called hedonic calculus. He asked questions like: 

• How strong is pleasure or pain? 
• How long will it last? 
• How likely is it to happen? 
• How many people will be affected? 

The idea was that we can look at the big picture and make the best choice by thinking about these things logically.

The Big Picture

Consequentialism teaches us a few things:

• What matters most is the outcome, not the action itself
• Everyone's happiness matters equally
• If you can cause more good for people that is the action you should take.

What does this mean? This means sometimes, the right choice might feel uncomfortable. But if it helps more people in the long run, consequentialism sees it as the better choice.

Final Thoughts

Consequentialism helps us think about difficult decisions in a deeper way. It pushes us to consider the results of our actions, not just our personal feelings/beliefs.

Whether it's helping one person or help many, the theory asks: Who is affected, and how can we make things better for the majority of people?

Roseli Falcon

PHI2600-7109

Prof. M. Watts