Consequentialism, agent-neutrality, and mahāyāna ethics

Philosophy East and West 58 (1):17-35 (2008)
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Abstract

: What kinds of comparisons can legitimately be made between Mahāyāna Buddhism and Western ethical theories? Mahāyānists aspire to alleviate the suffering, promote the happiness, and advance the moral perfection of all sentient beings. This aspiration is best understood as expressing a form of universalist consequentialism. Many Indian Mahāyāna texts seem committed to claims about agent-neutrality that imply consequentialism and are not compatible with virtue ethics. Within the Mahāyāna tradition, there is some diversity of views: Asaṅga seems to hold a complex and interesting version of rule consequentialism, whereas Śāntideva is closer to act consequentialism

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References found in this work

Famine, Affluence, and Morality.Peter Singer - 1972 - Oxford University Press USA.
Famine, affluence, and morality.Peter Singer - 1972 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 1 (3):229-243.
Consequentialism and Content.Thomas Hurka - 1992 - American Philosophical Quarterly 29 (1):71 - 78.
Karma, Character, and Consequentialism.Damien Keown - 1996 - Journal of Religious Ethics 24 (2):329-350.

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