I understand what you intended to be the joke. I just don’t think you get it.
This is a straightforward implication of having a consequentialist morality. Making moral decisions for deontological reasons and not because of the consequences according to the same value function is, by that standard, immoral. It’s not a big deal.
Mind you, I have made jokes along the same lines myself at times. With the implication “it’s funny ’cos it’s true!”. I begin to see why it had a mixed reception.
I think it is not a straightforward implication at all. Maybe this rephrasing would make the joke clearer:
“A deontological theory of ethics is not actually right. It is morally wrong, in principle.”
If that doesn’t help:
“It is morally wrong to make decisions for deontological reasons.”
What makes it funny is that moment wherein the reader (or at least, this reader) briefly agrees with it before the punchline hits.
I understand what you intended to be the joke. I just don’t think you get it.
This is a straightforward implication of having a consequentialist morality. Making moral decisions for deontological reasons and not because of the consequences according to the same value function is, by that standard, immoral. It’s not a big deal.
Mind you, I have made jokes along the same lines myself at times. With the implication “it’s funny ’cos it’s true!”. I begin to see why it had a mixed reception.