Kadish Center for Morality, Law & Public Affairs ISUS-X, Tenth Conference of the International Society for Utilitarian Studies (University of California, Berkeley) Year  Paper by D Killoren "Consequentialism, Time, and Value" David Killoren University of Wisconsin, Madison This paper is posted at the eScholarship Repository, University of California. http://repositories.cdlib.org/kadish/isus x/by D Killoren Copyright c©2008 by the author. Consequentialism, Time, Value, and Common-Sense Morality David Killoren Abstract Is consequentialism consistent with common-sense morality? I argue for a negative answer to this question. In Sections 1-4, I develop and defend a definition for "consequentialism." In Section 5, I attempt to show that, given this definition, consequentialism and common-sense morality cannot be reconciled. In Section 6, I argue that, on the definition of consequentialism I defend, consequentialism should be understood, not as a view about the relationship between the deontic and the evaluative (as many philosophers suppose), but as a view about the relationship between the deontic and time. Introduction Definitions for "consequentialism" tend to be either stipulative or descriptive.1 Stipulative definitions simply set forth a plan for usage of the term defined; they make no claim to represent the usage patterns of anyone but a current speaker in a current context. Descriptive definitions seek to identify the definition implicit in the usage patterns of competent members of a linguistic community in a specified range of contexts. Since "consequentialism" is a term of art – a bit of philosophers' jargon – it is commonly supposed that all useful or informative definitions for it must be merely stipulative.2 This reflects an odd prejudice against terms of art. Philosophers have exhibited abiding interest in finding descriptive definitions for words in common use like "knowledge," "obligation," "being," and so on.3 Presumably, the reason for such interest is that (a) philosophers care to know about the concepts such words invoke in standard usage – and (b) philosophers believe that descriptive definitions can (at least partially) reveal those concepts to us. Thus, if philosophers are not equally interested in finding descriptive 1 There is also the possibility of explicative definition (c.f. Carnap (1956); for general discussion, see Gupta's useful (2008) encyclopedia entry). It is difficult to characterize explicative definition in a footnote, but the gist is that an explicatrive definition for a term is meant to remain close enough to common usage to capture the concept invoked by it, but to depart from common usage so far as is necessary to serve whatever local purposes the definition is provided to serve. Explicative definition, it is sometimes said, recommends a conceptualization of a concept already in common use. Explicative definition is thus supposed to provide a kind of middle ground between description and stipulation, and therefore to have at least some of the advantages of each. However, it seems to me that the activity that ordinarily goes by the name "explicative definition" often has neither of these two sets of advantages: In departing from common usage, explicative definition risks failing to capture the concept invoked in common usage; but in remaining loosely tethered to common usage, an explicative definition risks failing to serve the local purposes of the philosopher who devises it. In this way, in attempt to serve two masters, explicative definition may fail to serve any. In any case, serving one of these masters is trouble enough. 2 This supposition, I grant, is more often articulated in conversation than in print. But Portmore mentions it in his (2007). 3 Here it might be objected that what philosophers really show concern for, in discussing the meanings of these words, is explicative definition for these terms (see fn. 1). I doubt this. For one thing, I think that philosophers' reliance on the intuitions of ordinary, competent speakers in their arguments betrays an interest in descriptive definitions (because I think such intuitions are primarily useful as evidence regarding the best descriptive definition for a term). But there is not space to support this view here. definitions for their own terms of art, then this must be because (c) philosophers do not care to know about the concepts such terms invoke in standard usage, or because (d) descriptive definitions cannot (even partially) reveal those concepts to us. But (c) is at least puzzling: Why shouldn't philosophers care to know about the concepts invoked by their own terms of art? Further, (d) seems likely to be false if (b) is true. Moreover, it seems doubtful that there is a principled distinction between common-use terms and terms of art. Philosophers talk about different things than ordinary people talk about, so it stands to reason that some of philosophers' terms of art would lack a correlate in common use. But this is just a byproduct of the peculiarity of philosophical concerns; it could have been that the concepts for which philosophers have names would also have been given names by ordinary people. If this had been the case, would we suddenly find ourselves interested in finding the descriptive definitions for the common-use terms? Surely not. Thus, it is difficult to see how there can be a principled blanket dismissal of concern for descriptive definitions for philosophical jargon. But even if this is right, we still have not been given a reason to think that the descriptive definition for "consequentialism," in particular, should interest us. Since much of this paper will be devoted to the quest for such a definition, I need to explain why the quest for such a definition is not boring. It is an open, and purportedly interesting, question whether consequentialism is consistent with common-sense morality. Call this question Q1. Not only does Q1 sound interesting, but many philosophers have weighed in on it;4 presumably, they would not have done so if it were a boring question. But Q1 would be boring if, in trying to answer it, we were meant to rely solely on stipulative definitions for "consequentialism." This is because it is very easy to stipulate a definition that guarantees (or makes impossible) consequentialism's compatibility with common sense. But suppose Q1 were, instead, equivalent to the following question: Q2: Is the sort of moral theory which we (i.e. members of the philosophical community) have in mind when we talk about consequentialism consistent with common-sense morality? Q2, I submit, is obviously not boring (or at least not obviously boring). Moreover, it seems plain that Q2 is the question under consideration by at least some of those who discuss whether consequentialism is consistent with common-sense morality.5 But to find an answer to Q2, we need a descriptive definition (or functionally adequate approximation thereof) for "consequentialism." Thus, it seems to me, we should take an interest in finding the descriptive definition for "consequentialism." The main purpose of this paper is to show that the answer to Q2 is "No;" this is what I shall argue in Section 5. To defend this answer, I will need to develop and defend a descriptive definition for "consequentialism;" this will be my task in Sections 1-4. 1. Two candidate definitions for "consequentialism" 4 See, e.g. Foot (1983), Schroeder (2007), Portmore (2007). 5 This is especially apparent in Foot's (1983) discussion. Sinnott-Armstrong (2006) has defined consequentialism as the view that "whether an act is morally right depends only on consequences (as opposed to the circumstances or the intrinsic nature of the act or anything that happens before the act)." There are a few ways in which we might object to this definition. We might point out, for instance, that the definition does not clarify that the consequences on which an act's rightness is supposed to depend are not only the act's own consequences, but also on the consequences of acts one might have performed instead. Or we might point out that the definition seems to assume that the consequences of an act are not part of its circumstances; it is not obvious that this is so, and it is seems odd to suggest that all consequentialists are, by virtue of their consequentialism, committed to say that it is so. Or we might point out that the definition says nothing about deontic statuses other than rightness. Does this mean that consequentialism has no implications regarding how we may determine wrongness, permissibility, supererogation, etc.? But these are quibbles; set them to one side. A more interesting ground for objection is this: that evaluative notions play no role in the definition. Nowhere in this definition do words like "goodness" or "value" appear. Contrary to this, it is widely held that consequentialism has something essentially to do with the evaluative.6 Of course, this is not a fact of which Sinnott-Armstrong is simply unaware; but he seems to think that evaluative notions are essential only to some forms of consequentialism. In particular, Sinnott-Armstrong defines "evaluative consequentialism" as the view that "moral rightness depends only on the value of the consequences (as opposed to other features of the consequences)." Still, many would object to Sinnott-Armstrong's classification scheme.7 They would object on the ground that, if one denies the view Sinnott-Armstrong calls "evaluative consequentialism," she thereby repudiates consequentialism itself. On this view, consequentialism, in standard (philosophical) usage, just is "evaluative consequentialism." In fact, this seems to me to be the standard view; it is extremely common for definitions of consequentialism to take a form equivalent, in the relevant respects, to the definition Sinnott-Armstrong provides for evaluative consequentialism (see fn. 6). I am going to argue against this view; that is, I will argue that SinnottArmstrong's definition for consequentialism is, in its essentials, correct. But I will also argue that Sinnott-Armstrong is incorrect to classify evaluative consequentialism as a subtype of consequentialism. This is because, on the view I will defend, some (but not all) forms of evaluative consequentialism fail to be genuine forms of consequentialism. It will prevent confusion (as well as some possible question-begging) if we rename Sinnott-Armstrong's two definitions for consequentialism. So let us simply call them D1 and D2, as follows: 6 There is no shortage of philosophers to cite in support of this claim. For two authoritative examples, see Kagan (1989) and Darwall (2002); in both cases a definition for consequentialism essentially equivalent to Sinnott-Armstrong's "evaluative consequentialism" (see discussion below) is provided. 7 In particular, those who advance definitions like Kagan's and Darwall's would object. However, it is important to note that Sinnott-Armstrong's style of definition is far from unprecedented. For instance, I think it is arguable that Sinnott-Armstrong's definition comes quite close to capturing the original intended meaning for consequentialism, i.e. the meaning intended in Anscombe (1958), wherein "consequentialism" was coined. D1 = whether an act is morally right depends only on consequences (as opposed to the circumstances or the intrinsic nature of the act or anything that happens before the act). D2 = moral rightness depends only on the value (or goodness – I will use these terms interchangeably) of the consequences (as opposed to other features of the consequences). To repeat: On the view I will defend, D1 represents a correct descriptive definition for consequentialism; and D2 represents an incorrect definition for consequentialism: some moral theories affirm D2 while failing to be genuine forms of consequentialism. 2. D1 and D2 are not equivalent Before defending D1 and criticizing D2, I want to show that D1 and D2 are not equivalent. It may seem that this step is unnecessary, but many philosophers proceed as though the two definitions are interchangeable,8 so it is worth pausing to explain why this is not appropriate. We can do this in two steps: first, by showing that D2 does not imply D1; second, by showing that D1 does not imply D2. D2 does not imply D1. Assume D1. Then the value of the consequences of one's actions (entirely) determines9 whether they are right or wrong. If (i.) the consequences of one's actions (entirely) determine their own value, and (ii.) determination is transitive,10 it would follow that (iii.) the consequences of one's actions (entirely) determine whether they are right or wrong. But (i.) is likely false, and there is no reason to suppose consequentialists are committed to it. E.g., suppose a prison guard executes a prisoner. Is the consequence of this action (i.e. the prisoner's death) good or bad? Arguably, whether it is good or bad is determined (at least in part) by whether the prisoner was a violent criminal or an innocent falsely accused. Yet the prisoner's criminal past (or lack thereof) is clearly not a consequence of the guard's action. Thus, the value of the consequences, in this case, is plausibly not entirely determined by the consequences themselves. See Figure below. 8 For especially clear cases in which philosophers have proceeded in this way, consider Slote (1985) and Shaw (2006). 9 In this paper, I am relying on an intuitive, contextual grasp of determination: Determination is the sort of relation that we have in mind when we assert that pleasure, or desire-satisfaction, or whatever, makes some outcome good – or when we assert that the badness (relative to alternatives) of an action's consequences make the action wrong; etc. There is not space here to defend an account of determination complete enough to decide whether determination really is transitive. Obviously, if determination is not transitive, this only bolsters my case here, but for the sake of argument I grant that it is transitive. 10 Determination is transitive exactly if the following conditional is true (for any A, B and C): [A determines B and B determines C] only if [A determines C].