Ultimately, it isn’t too hard to reconcile these intuitions; neither “intentions” nor “consequences” matter per se. Instead, what we should care about, for all intents and purposes, is the “expected consequences” of an action
You are treating ethics as an individual decision theory, as rationalists tend to. But ethics is also connected with social practices of reward and punishment. What is the point of such practices? To adjust people’s values or intentions. Intentions are the single most important thing for justice system.
Sometimes people have responsibilities, and can be charged for failing to execute them, say with ‘gross negligence’ as in ‘lack of slight diligence or care’.
You are treating ethics as an individual decision theory, as rationalists tend to. But ethics is also connected with social practices of reward and punishment. What is the point of such practices? To adjust people’s values or intentions. Intentions are the single most important thing for justice system.
Sometimes people have responsibilities, and can be charged for failing to execute them, say with ‘gross negligence’ as in ‘lack of slight diligence or care’.