The Dimensions of Consequentialism

The Dimensions of Consequentialism

International Workshop, November, 16-17, 2013

University of Konstanz, Room F 425

The workshop is free and open to the public

At this workshop, Martin Peterson's new book “The Dimensions of Consequentialism” (Cambridge University Press, 2013) will be discussed. Peterson introduces a new type of consequentialist theory: multi-dimensional consequentialism. According to this theory, an act’s moral rightness depends on several separate dimensions, including wellbeing, equality, and risk. Peterson aims to show that moral views about equality and risk that were previously thought to be mutually incompatible can be rendered compatible. In this context, Peterson argues for there being degrees of rightness rather than rightness being an all-or-nothing property. What is supposed to make Peterson’s multi-dimensional consequentialism attractive is that it can account for intuitions that are widely thought to speak against traditional versions of consequentialism. While one-dimensional consequentialists concede that virtually any act could be right provided that the net benefit is optimal when calculated in the appropriate way, the multi-dimensional theory proposed by Peterson seems to avoid this counter-intuitive conclusion. At best, acts that, for example, lead to someone being better off at the expense of another, or which produce unfair inequalities, or which are risky, could be right to some degree but not entirely right, no matter how well these acts score with respect to other aspects.

Details are available here:

http://www.uni-konstanz.de/dimensions_of_consequentialism/

All welcome!

Contact: [email protected] and [email protected]