- Actions in and of themselves can't be good or bad.
- What makes them good or bad are their consequences/logical implications.
- Actions can be "intrinsically wrong" if they necessarily imply/lead to a bad consequences. For example murder is intrinsically wrong since it necessarily implies the unjustified death of someone.
- Actions can also be "contingently wrong", if, practically, they lead to bad consequences, but don't necessarily. For example, incest is only contingently wrong: in most circumstances it would lead to problems, but it is possible for people to engage in incest without any repercussions.
- A lot of confusion in thinking and discussions about morality come from not properly distinguishing between intrinsically wrong and contingently wrong.
NOTE: I'm seriously rethinking my statements in this post. More to come.
Posts
