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Indeterminacy and impotence.

Benjamin Hale¹

¹Philosophy and Environmental Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder, United States.

|June 7, 2022

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

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Individual consumption choices matter for collective challenges. This paper introduces causal indeterminacy as a new challenge to consequentialist ethics, arguing that outcomes are uncertain even if actions have impact.

Area of Science:

Applied Ethics
Moral Philosophy
Environmental Ethics

Background:

Arguments for individual responsibility in consumption decisions are common.
A frequent objection is that individual actions are causally impotent to effect change.
This challenges act-consequentialist moral reasoning.

Purpose of the Study:

To analyze objections of causal impotence in individual responsibility arguments.
To introduce and explore causal indeterminacy as a distinct objection.
To examine the implications of causal indeterminacy for consequentialist moral theory.

Main Methods:

Deconstruction of causal impotence arguments into distinct categories.
Introduction of causal indeterminacy as a novel variation.

Keywords:

Causal impotence Climate Change Consequentialism Indeterminacy Inefficacy Vegetarian

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Philosophical analysis of the implications for moral decision-making.

Main Results:

Causal impotence objections are categorized into three lines of argument.
Causal indeterminacy is presented as a previously unexplored variation.
This new argument suggests outcomes are unknowable and unsecured by individual actions.

Conclusions:

Causal indeterminacy poses unique challenges to consequentialism.
It highlights the difficulty of aligning individual actions with desired collective outcomes.
Further examination is needed on the ethical implications of uncertain outcomes.