‘Deep pragmatism’ is Joshua Greene’s name for ‘utilitarianism’.
Today we, some of us, defend the rights of gays and women with great conviction. But before we could do it with feeling, before our feelings felt like “rights,” someone had to do it with thinking. I’m a deep pragmatist, and a liberal, because I believe in this kind of progress and that our work is not yet done.
I’m aware that may be jarring in the quote, but he has argued his case for being able to use the word very well. In fact, he’s argued against it, calling it a rationalisation of our moral intuitions, and his point is that, for our moral intuitions to change, someone needs to do some good ethical reasoning first.
‘Deep pragmatism’ is Joshua Greene’s name for ‘utilitarianism’.
Joshua Greene, “Moral Tribes”
And yet he’s talking about ‘rights’, which are a deontological not a utilitarian concept.
Consequentialists can believe in something that can reasonably be called rights.
I’m aware that may be jarring in the quote, but he has argued his case for being able to use the word very well. In fact, he’s argued against it, calling it a rationalisation of our moral intuitions, and his point is that, for our moral intuitions to change, someone needs to do some good ethical reasoning first.