Abstract
Satisficing consequentialism is an unpopular theory. Because it permits gratuitous sub-optimal behaviour, it strikes many as wildly implausible. It has been widely rejected as a tenable moral theory for more than twenty years. In this article, I rehearse the arguments behind this unpopularity, before examining an attempt to redeem satisficing. Richard Yetter Chappell has recently defended a form of 'effort satisficing consequentialism'. By incorporating an 'effort ceiling' - a limit on the amount of willpower a situation requires - and requiring that agents produce at least as much good as they could given how much effort they are exerting, Chappell avoids the obvious objections. However, I demonstrate that the revised theory is susceptible to a different objection, and that the resulting view requires that any supererogatory behaviour must be efficient, which fails to match typical moral verdicts.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 108-117 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Utilitas |
Volume | 32 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | 18 Oct 2019 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Mar 2020 |