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Gitlesen Master 2016--DUO Doing the Best We Can’t Evaluative Conflict and the ‘Ought’ Implies ‘Can’ Principle Daniel Parmeggiani Gitlesen Thesis presented for the degree of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY Supervised by Ole Martin Moen Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas Faculty of Humanities University of Oslo Spring 2016 II One must perform the lower act which one can manage and sustain: not the higher act which one bungles. Self-knowledge will lead us to avoid occasions of temptation rather than rely on naked strength to overcome them. We must not arrogate to ourselves actions which belong to those whose spiritual vision is higher or other than ours. ―Iris Murdoch, The Bell, 193, 195. For if the moral law commands that we ought to be better human beings now, it inescapably follows that we must be capable of being better human beings. ―Immanuel Kant, Religion Within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, 94. III © Daniel Parmeggiani Gitlesen 2016 Doing the Best We Can’t: Evaluative Conflict and the ‘Ought’ Implies ‘Can’ Principle http://www.duo.uio.no/ Trykk: Allkopi IV ABSTRACT The aim of this thesis is to defend global consequentialism from its main objection, specifically the objection that it allows evaluative conflict. Global consequentialism differs from traditional forms of consequentialism in that it does not only focus on one type of thing, like acts or rules. Act consequentialism focuses on the right acts directly, and evaluates rules indirectly according to whether they lead to the right acts or not. Rule consequentialism focuses on what the right rules are, and evaluates acts indirectly by appealing to whether they conform to the right rules. Global consequentialism will rather evaluate any evaluand directly in terms of its consequences, whether it is an act, a set of rules, a law, a character trait, etc. But what should we say if having the best motives implies that you cannot do the best act. That is, if your motives are so strong they make it causally impossible for you to do the otherwise best act? This would amount to evaluative conflict, and it can supposedly happen between any set of evaluands. To put it colloquially, evaluative conflict means you are “damned if you do, and damned if you don’t”. I argue that evaluative conflict cannot occur since the principle ‘ought’ implies ‘can’ includes evaluands that are pragmatically impossible in conjunction with each other. If you cannot have the best motives and do the best action, then it will not be the case that you ought to have the best motives and do the best action. Derek Parfit argues that this defense would render wrongness obsolete. If determinism is true then all acts are determined by motives, and so no acts would be wrong. I argue that his solution also fails via a distinction between objective and subjective rightness. For subjective rightness his argument results in the counter-intuitive claim that we ought to do something we know that we cannot do. For objective rightness his argument leads to wrongness becoming obsolete for other theories as well, or it merely shifts wrongness to the level of motives as opposed to acts. I think that the best way of escaping these problems is to reject objective rightness. This in no way means we have to give up on a robust a notion of right and wrong, since subjective and objective rightness relates to our epistemic situation in relation to an objectively true morality, not a rejection of objectively true morality itself. V VI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Several people have helped me, either by answering questions about their work, or by giving me invaluable feedback. A large gratitude is owed to Ole Martin Moen for being my excellent supervisor. Many of the ideas that I explore in this thesis were developed during my time at Rutgers University, especially during conversations with Holly Smith, but also during my classes with Derek Parfit. Both of them have also been so gracious as to respond to my subsequent queries about their work via e-mail, as has Elinor Mason, and Shelly Kagan. A great gratitude is also owed to Ainar Petersen Miyata, Conrad Bakka, and Mariona Eiren Bohlin Sturm for giving me feedback on the finished thesis. And, thank you to all of the great philosophers who have written so insightfully about the subjects that I discuss. VII VIII TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 THE PROBLEM ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Preliminaries ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Consequentialism in Context ........................................................................................... 3 1.2.1 The Three Leading Traditions ................................................................................... 3 1.2.2 Subjective and Objective Rightness. ......................................................................... 7 1.2.3 Evaluative Focal Points ........................................................................................... 10 1.3 The Motivation Behind Global Consequentialism ......................................................... 12 1.3.1 Foundational Consequentialism .............................................................................. 12 1.3.2 The Worship Objection ........................................................................................... 13 1.4 Global Consequentialism ............................................................................................... 19 1.5 Evaluative Conflict ......................................................................................................... 24 1.6 Recap and Roadmap ....................................................................................................... 28 2 IS RIGHTNESS TRANSFERABLE? ................................................................................... 29 2.1 Parfit and Louise Versus Mason .................................................................................... 29 2.2 How Transferring of Rightness Works .......................................................................... 33 2.3 A ‘Transfer’ of Rightness? ............................................................................................. 37 2.4 Intermediate Conclusion ................................................................................................ 38 3 A NEW CRITERION OF ROLE-BASED OBLIGATION ...................................................................... 39 3.1 The Criterion .................................................................................................................. 39 3.2 Is This Still a Form of Consequentialism? ..................................................................... 43 3.3 Is This Still a Form of Foundational Consequentialism? .............................................. 44 4 I MUST, BUT I OUGHT NOT ............................................................................................. 47 4.1 Parfit and OIC ................................................................................................................ 47 4.2 The First Reason why Claim (1) is Not Claim (3) ......................................................... 50 4.3 Is Parfit an Ethical Possibilist? ....................................................................................... 53 4.4 OIC and Subjective Rightness........................................................................................ 55 4.5 The Second Reason why Claim (1) is Not Claim (3) ..................................................... 61 4.6 Indeterminism I: General Psychological Indeterminism ................................................ 69 4.7 Indeterminism II: Local Determinism ............................................................................ 74 4.8 Global Determinism: the Hard Case .............................................................................. 77 4.8.1 The Rejection of Objective Rightness ..................................................................... 80 4.8.2 OIC Does Not Apply to Objective Rightness ......................................................... 84 4.9 Psychological Determinism Without Physical Determinism ......................................... 85 4.10 Rejecting ‘Ought’ Implies ‘Can’ Outright ................................................................... 89 4.11 Recap ............................................................................................................................ 93 5 UNIVERSALIZING MASON’S DEFENSE ........................................................................ 95 5.1 Decision Procedures and Acts ........................................................................................ 95 5.2 Rules and Acts ................................................................................................................ 96 6 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 99 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 103 IX X 1 THE PROBLEM 1.1 Preliminaries The aim of this thesis is to defend global consequentialism from the objection that it allows for evaluative conflict. In order to do so, I should explain what evaluative conflict is and why it can be seen as a problem for global consequentialism. But first I shall provide some context, as well as explain some terminology that will
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