Concept tag
#consequentialism
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“The ends justify the means”: obviously true or obviously false? I can’t decide which
I do stand-up in the evenings and work in a call centre in the day, and both jobs involve a lot of people saying “the ends justify the means”. My team leader says it when he wants us to hit targets by…
Started by Gemma Pritchard4 replies230 views -
Mozi was a consequentialist two thousand years before Bentham, and lost the argument the same way
I work on the later Mohist canons, so I live with this comparison. Here's the case. Mozi, writing in the fifth century BCE, argued that the test of any doctrine or policy is whether it promotes benefit and removes harm for the…
Started by Chen Yuting5 replies139 views -
Should a struggling state pay for music? Mozi and Xunzi’s quarrel
More than two thousand years before modern arts-funding debates, the Mohists argued that music wastes what the poor need, and Xunzi replied that a society without music cannot hold together. Both were partly right.
Started by Chen Yuting0 replies56 views -
Ethical theories explained: a beginner’s guide to how philosophers judge right and wrong
Consequences, duties, character, contracts, care, roles and community: what each theory tells you to look at, and why they agree more often than you'd think.
Started by Rowena Abellana0 replies62 views -
Reading group: the Mozi’s three chapters on impartial caring (jian’ai), one a week
I am writing a dissertation on the later Mohist canons, but I keep returning to the core chapters, the three on jian'ai, usually translated as “universal love” or, better, “impartial caring”. They are short, vigorous and argumentative, and they make the case…
Started by Chen Yuting6 replies230 views -
Should you care for everyone equally? Mozi and the first great argument about impartiality
Two thousand years before utilitarianism, Mohists and Confucians fought over whether love should have degrees. They framed the question better than we usually do.
Started by Chen Yuting0 replies146 views