Ethics 11 - Nonconsequentialism

What is your answer?

You promise to go to Suzy's party. But you need to break this promise to drive a sick friend to the hospital. So you ought to break the promise.

Ross's prima facie view says that you ought to break the promise because

{ 1 }

{ 2 }

{ 3 }

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Directions: Click on a number from 1 to 3.

1 is wrong. Please try again.

You promise to go to Suzy's party. But you need to break this promise to drive a sick friend to the hospital. So you ought to break the promise.

Ross's prima facie view says that you ought to break the promise because

{ 1 } - a promise is only a prima facie duty, and thus isn't a genuine duty.

{ 2 }

{ 3 }

The duty is genuine, but it's overridden by another duty.

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2 is correct!

You promise to go to Suzy's party. But you need to break this promise to drive a sick friend to the hospital. So you ought to break the promise.

Ross's prima facie view says that you ought to break the promise because

{ 1 }

{ 3 }

One duty is more binding than the other. We discover which duty is more binding in the concrete situation by appealing to intuition (according to Ross) or to what we desire insofar as we are rational (according to Ima Rossian).

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Before continuing, you might try some wrong answers.

3 is wrong. Please try again.

You promise to go to Suzy's party. But you need to break this promise to drive a sick friend to the hospital. So you ought to break the promise.

Ross's prima facie view says that you ought to break the promise because

{ 1 }

{ 2 }

This is the utilitarian answer, and Ross's prima facie view would reject it.

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the end