suppose some mathematician were to prove, using logic, that it was moral to wear green clothing on Saturday. There are no benefits to anyone for wearing green clothing on Saturday, and it won’t hurt anyone if you don’t. But the math apparently checks out. Do you shrug and start wearing green clothing? Or do you say “It looks like you have done some very strange mathematical trick, but it doesn’t seem to have any relevance to real life and I feel no need to comply with it”?
Supposing a consequentialist were to prove using maths that you should be tortured a bit in order to bring about a nett tincrease the sum total of human happiness. Do you shrug and say: “get out the thumbscrews”? Or do you say “this has something to do with the world, but it is not moral because there is a rule that the end does not justify the means”
Supposing a consequentialist were to prove using maths that you should be tortured a bit in order to bring about a nett tincrease the sum total of human happiness. Do you shrug and say: “get out the thumbscrews”? Or do you say “this has something to do with the world, but it is not moral because there is a rule that the end does not justify the means”