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Minimal Consequentialism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2009

Peter Caws
Affiliation:
The University of Kent at Canterbury, The George Washington University

Extract

In this paper I propose to set out, and argue for, a theory of what makes acts morally permissible. The claims about morality that I shall be advancing will be minimalist. By this I mean that the scope of the theory will be restricted to as small a class of acts or courses of action as possible, and its bearing on the members of that class to as narrow a range of characteristics as possible. My starting point is that, as Dostoevsky put it, 'everything is permitted'– unless there prove to be good reasons why it cannot be.

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Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 1995

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