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date: 06 July 2022

Abstract and Keywords

Consequentialist views have traditionally taken a maximizing form, requiring agents to bring about the very best outcome that they can. But this maximizing function may be questioned. Satisficing views instead allow agents to bring about any outcome that exceeds a satisfactory threshold or qualifies as “good enough.” Scalar consequentialism, by contrast, eschews moral requirements altogether, instead evaluating acts in purely comparative terms, that is, as better or worse than their alternatives. After surveying the main considerations for and against each of these three views, I argue that the core insights of each are not (despite appearances) in conflict. Consequentialists should be deontic pluralists and accept a maximizing account of the ought of most reason, a satisficing account of obligation, and a scalar account of the weight of reasons.

Keywords: maximizing, satisficing, scalar consequentialism, obligation, ought, rightness, blameworthiness, deontic pluralism

Richard Yetter Chappell

Richard Yetter Chappell is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Miami. His primary research interests concern the defense and development of consequentialism, effective altruism, and robust normative realism. Chappell blogs at www.philosophyetc.net about these and other philosophical topics. He has published widely in journals, including Noûs, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Philosophical Studies, and Philosophical Quarterly, and was coawarded the Rocky Mountain Ethics Congress 2013 Young Ethicist Prize.

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