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Single Idea 8038

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / E. Utilitarianism / 1. Utilitarianism ]

Full Idea

Moore takes it that to call an action right is simply to say that of the available alternative actions it is the one which does or did as a matter of fact produce the most good. Moore is thus a utilitarian.

Gist of Idea

Since Moore thinks the right action produces the most good, he is a utilitarian

Source

Alasdair MacIntyre (After Virtue: a Study in Moral Theory [1981], Ch. 2)

Book Ref

MacIntyre,Alasdair: 'After Virtue: a Study in Moral Theory' [Duckworth 1982], p.14

A Reaction

Far be it from me to disagree with MacIntyre on this, but I would have thought that this made him a consequentialist, rather than a utilitarian. Moore doesn't remotely think that pure pleasure or happiness is the good. He's closer to Rashdall (Idea 6673).

Related Idea

Idea 6673 Ideal Utilitarianism is teleological but non-hedonistic; the aim is an ideal end, which includes pleasure [Rashdall]

The 40 ideas from Alasdair MacIntyre

7097 Virtue is secondary to a role-figure, defined within a culture [MacIntyre, by Statman]
8034 We still have the appearance and language of morality, but we no longer understand it [MacIntyre]
8036 Unlike expressions of personal preference, evaluative expressions do not depend on context [MacIntyre]
8035 In trying to explain the type of approval involved, emotivists are either silent, or viciously circular [MacIntyre]
8037 The expression of feeling in a sentence is in its use, not in its meaning [MacIntyre]
8040 Emotivism cannot explain the logical terms in moral discourse ('therefore', 'if..then') [MacIntyre]
8042 Nowadays most people are emotivists, and it is embodied in our culture [MacIntyre]
8038 Since Moore thinks the right action produces the most good, he is a utilitarian [MacIntyre]
8043 Characters are the masks worn by moral philosophies [MacIntyre]
8045 The failure of Enlightenment attempts to justify morality will explain our own culture [MacIntyre]
8047 Philosophy has been marginalised by its failure in the Enlightenment to replace religion [MacIntyre]
8049 Moral judgements now are anachronisms from a theistic age [MacIntyre]
8048 When 'man' is thought of individually, apart from all roles, it ceases to be a functional concept [MacIntyre]
8050 There are no natural or human rights, and belief in them is nonsense [MacIntyre]
8051 Mention of 'intuition' in morality means something has gone wrong with the argument [MacIntyre]
8052 To find empiricism and science in the same culture is surprising, as they are really incompatible [MacIntyre]
8053 Twentieth century social life is re-enacting eighteenth century philosophy [MacIntyre]
8057 Unpredictability doesn't entail inexplicability, and predictability doesn't entail explicability [MacIntyre]
8054 Social sciences discover no law-like generalisations, and tend to ignore counterexamples [MacIntyre]
8056 AI can't predict innovation, or consequences, or external relations, or external events [MacIntyre]
8055 If God is omniscient, he confronts no as yet unmade decisions, so decisions are impossible [MacIntyre]
8058 Maybe we can only understand rules if we first understand the virtues [MacIntyre]
8059 The good life for man is the life spent seeking the good life for man [MacIntyre]
8060 In the 17th-18th centuries morality offered a cure for egoism, through altruism [MacIntyre]
8061 If morality just is emotion, there are no external criteria for judging emotions [MacIntyre]
8062 Proof is a barren idea in philosophy, and the best philosophy never involves proof [MacIntyre]
21050 I can only make decisions if I see myself as part of a story [MacIntyre]
8001 'Dikaiosune' is justice, but also fairness and personal integrity [MacIntyre]
8002 Sophists don't distinguish a person outside one social order from someone outside all order [MacIntyre]
8005 'Happiness' is a bad translation of 'eudaimonia', which includes both behaving and faring well [MacIntyre]
8006 When Aristotle speaks of soul he means something like personality [MacIntyre]
8008 The Bible is a story about God in which humans are incidental characters [MacIntyre]
8013 In the Reformation, morality became unconditional but irrational, individually autonomous, and secular [MacIntyre]
8012 The value/fact logical gulf is misleading, because social facts involve values [MacIntyre]
8022 I am naturally free if I am not tied to anyone by a contract [MacIntyre]
8021 The Levellers and the Diggers mark a turning point in the history of morality [MacIntyre]
8023 My duties depend on my identity, which depends on my social relations [MacIntyre]
8031 Fans of natural rights or laws can't agree on what the actual rights or laws are [MacIntyre]
23080 Liberals debate how conservative or radical to be, but don't question their basics [MacIntyre]
10356 Relativism can be seen as about the rationality of different cultural traditions [MacIntyre, by Kusch]