this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2024
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That’s certainly not a flaw in the philosophy. As it pertains to the voter, you’re not expected to know the future, but you do have a civic duty to be informed when voting. If you have made a good faith effort to understand the context of the choice and the most likely outcomes of the options available, you can’t be faulted for not foreseeing the exact outcomes that unfold. If nothing else, because you can’t possibly know exactly what the outcomes of the alternatives would have been. Ignoring the most likely outcomes in favor of the most desired outcomes is what seems unethical. “Letting perfect be the enemy of good” and all that.
I genuinely “Kant” see how someone can justify a moral framework where only the action has intrinsic morality and the consequences are completely irrelevant. Sure, the morality of an action should be considered, but ultimately, real-world choices have to be made from a holistic consideration of the entire situation.
Similarly, I also reject the idea of perfectly objective morality. There are extreme shades of grey, but never black and white. No action can be said to be universally good regardless of both intent and context, except in religious moral frameworks.
honestly, though i have long thought of myself as a deontologist, i have begun to think that i'm actually just a cynic. or, rather, i have begun to approach ethics with cynicism.
i'm starting to think that people just do what they want and then justify it. and this plays nicely with hedonism, which i also find quite appealing.
me too. i don't believe i can prove i'm right or you're wrong, though i certainly believe that. you'll have to decide what to do for yourself, just as i have.
since you can't know what might cause the greatest harm in the future, the harm that occurs after you act cannot inform how you act. it's a well-trod objection to consequentialist ethics.