Hello, for a school assignment I am studying the topic of how consequentialism affects society, and apparently it is necessary to do some sort of interview/questionnaire/survey (which I find a bit mystifying considering the topic of a philosophy), so out of shyness I am doing, well, this thread.
The point of this is to gather people's opinions, not reach a conclusion through debate, so NO ARGUING (I know how this subforum gets sometimes...). Also, I suspect many people will particularly focus on the Aspergers side of things, so may I ask that you think about other areas of society.
I have been told that these questions are very broad so try to stick to the point but give a few decent reasons for your view. Also, you don't need to answer all questions if you do not have any particular view, but the more answers, the better. I'll probably be taking this in on Monday.
To clarify for the unenlightened...
Consequentialism is the philosophy that the consequences/outcomes/results of an action(s) are what morality should be based upon. This popularly takes form in the philosophy of Utilitarianism, which holds that the most morally right act is the one which causes the greatest happiness and/or the least pain. Bear in mind differences like lots of people being a little happier versus one person being a lot happier.
The actual questions...
1: What is your opinion of consequentialism (e.g. like it, don't like it) and why?
2: What are some criticisms of consequentialism you can think of?
3: What are some aspects of society today (e.g. laws, culture) that are affected by consequentialist ideas and how are they affected?
4: What are some aspects of society today that are not affected by consequentialist ideas?
5: How do you think consequentialist ideas will affect society in the future?
08 Aug 2012, 7:05 am
