Consequences: The Greatest Good and Its Problems · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

Consequences, totals and moral rules

Personal & Social Development · Ethics & Philosophy · ages 16-18
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. A council can fund one of two treatments, each costing its whole budget. A adds 100 healthy years; B adds 60. All other effects are equal. Using total healthy years as its measure of good, which should it fund?

    • A, because 100 exceeds 60 on the chosen measure
    • B, because fewer healthy years always cost less
    • Either, because equal costs make the outcomes equal

  2. According to act utilitarianism as taught here, what makes an action right?

    • It follows an old tradition regardless of its effects on people
    • It produces the greatest overall good for everyone affected
    • It expresses a brave intention regardless of its effects on people

  3. Under the utilitarian approach studied here, helping more people always produces the best total outcome, whatever the size of their benefits or harms.

    Circle one:   True   False

  4. A student says, 'Consequentialists need never consider intentions, because intentions can have no effects.' What needs correcting?

    • Intentions can affect likely outcomes even though outcomes set the standard
    • Intentions settle whether acts are right even when every consequence is identical
    • Intentions turn harmful consequences into good ones whenever the aim was to help

  5. Assume framing one innocent person would save twenty lives and produce the best overall outcome after every harm was counted. Which objection challenges that act-utilitarian verdict on grounds of justice?

    • The verdict must favour punishment because twenty is greater than one
    • The verdict cannot concern morality because it compares possible outcomes
    • The person should not be punished for something they did not do

  6. Why might rule utilitarianism support a rule against punishing innocent people?

    • Following the rule removes any need to consider consequences
    • Following the rule generally can protect trust and safety
    • Following the rule gives every judge complete freedom to punish

  7. A rule utilitarian sets a rule aside whenever a particular act seems to produce more good than following it. Critics say this returns to which method?

    • Act utilitarianism, because each act's outcome again decides what to do
    • Duty ethics, because each act must follow the rule whatever its outcome
    • Virtue ethics, because each act is judged only by the character it expresses

  8. Two plans cost the same and differ only in total healthy years added. A mayor chooses the smaller total only because it benefits her own street. Why would the impartial utilitarian approach object?

    • A public budget should favour the mayor's street whenever the costs are equal
    • A public budget should avoid any plan that benefits the mayor's neighbours
    • Equal benefits count equally, whether recipients are neighbours or strangers
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Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Consequences, totals and moral rules W1-mt_XD8-rBho01-s1

  1. A, because 100 exceeds 60 on the chosen measure · The costs and other effects are equal, so compare the benefit totals. A adds 40 more healthy years than B.
  2. It produces the greatest overall good for everyone affected · Act utilitarianism applies the greatest-good test to each action, counting everyone's interests equally. Tradition or a brave intention does not establish that an action produces the best overall outcome.
  3. False · Counting people alone is not enough. The size of benefits and harms affects the overall good.
  4. Intentions can affect likely outcomes even though outcomes set the standard · An intention can affect choices and their likely results. It can matter to predicting consequences without becoming a separate standard of rightness.
  5. The person should not be punished for something they did not do · The justice objection challenges sacrificing an innocent person's fair treatment for an overall benefit. It does not depend on finding a hidden harmful consequence.
  6. Following the rule generally can protect trust and safety · Rule utilitarianism assesses the consequences of a rule being generally followed. Protecting trust and safety can support this rule.
  7. Act utilitarianism, because each act's outcome again decides what to do · The deciding test is again the outcome of each act. This criticism concerns how rules are overridden, not the mere existence of a fixed exception.
  8. Equal benefits count equally, whether recipients are neighbours or strangers · The objection is to giving extra weight to neighbours merely because they are neighbours. Their interests still count, but receive no personal bonus.
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