Great post—and I agree that it’s too narrow to ever claim that one is simply doing ethics through a singular lens.
Another interesting facet of this: as we make moral theories more complex by “Band-Aiding” their flaws, we end up incorporating aspects of different moral theories. Take rule consequentialism which states that “an act is morally wrong if and only if it is forbidden by rules justified by their consequences” (SEP). In a way, this is a combination of the universal maxim idea from deontology and utilitarianism.
Derek Parfit has been working on this stuff for decades. His three part series On What Matters attempts to combine consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics into a single moral theory he calls “Triple Theory”. Parfit’s Triple Theory is summarized as:
An act is wrong if and only if, or just when, such acts are disallowed by some principle that is:
(1) one of the principles whose being universal laws would make things go best,
(2) one of the only principles whose being universal laws everyone could rationally will....
(3) a principle that no one could reasonably reject. (Clickable link)
In essence, Parfit argues that all moral theorists are “climbing the same mountain on different sides” in their search for objective moral truth.
Great post—and I agree that it’s too narrow to ever claim that one is simply doing ethics through a singular lens.
Another interesting facet of this: as we make moral theories more complex by “Band-Aiding” their flaws, we end up incorporating aspects of different moral theories. Take rule consequentialism which states that “an act is morally wrong if and only if it is forbidden by rules justified by their consequences” (SEP). In a way, this is a combination of the universal maxim idea from deontology and utilitarianism.
Derek Parfit has been working on this stuff for decades. His three part series On What Matters attempts to combine consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics into a single moral theory he calls “Triple Theory”. Parfit’s Triple Theory is summarized as:
In essence, Parfit argues that all moral theorists are “climbing the same mountain on different sides” in their search for objective moral truth.