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Full Idea
Making the best of a bad job is a consequentialist maxim, and it will have something to say even pn the difference between massacring seven million and massacring seven million and one.
Gist of Idea
For a consequentialist massacring 7 million must be better than massacring 7 million and one
Source
Bernard Williams (A Critique of Utilitarianism [1973], 2)
Book Ref
Smart,J./Williams,B.: 'Utilitarianism For and Against' [CUP 1978], p.93
A Reaction
If every life counts, the consequentialists have got something right here. Not caring exactly how many were massacred is a sort of callousness (even when the number can't be established).
| 22407 | Utilitarianism cannot make any serious sense of integrity [Williams,B] |
| 22410 | Maybe the unthinkable is a moral category, and considering some options is dishonourable or absurd [Williams,B] |
| 22408 | Consequentialism assumes that situations can be compared [Williams,B] |
| 22411 | For a consequentialist massacring 7 million must be better than massacring 7 million and one [Williams,B] |
| 22409 | We don't have a duty to ensure that others do their duty [Williams,B] |