Editing Ethics and Moral Philosophy (section)

== <span style="color: #FFFFFF;">Applying</span> ==
'''Implementing utilitarian and Kantian decision frameworks:'''
<syntaxhighlight lang="python">
from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing import Callable

@dataclass
class Action:
    name: str
    consequences: dict[str, float]  # stakeholder → utility change
    uses_person_as_means: bool       # Kantian criterion
    universalizable: bool            # Categorical Imperative criterion

def utilitarian_evaluate(action: Action) -> dict:
    """Greatest happiness principle: choose action maximizing total utility."""
    total_utility = sum(action.consequences.values())
    return {
        'framework': 'Utilitarianism (act)',
        'total_utility': total_utility,
        'verdict': 'Permissible' if total_utility > 0 else 'Impermissible',
        'rationale': f"Net welfare change: {total_utility:+.1f} utils across all stakeholders"
    }

def kantian_evaluate(action: Action) -> dict:
    """Categorical Imperative: universalizability + treating persons as ends."""
    if not action.universalizable:
        verdict = "Impermissible"
        rationale = "Maxim cannot be universalized without contradiction"
    elif action.uses_person_as_means:
        verdict = "Impermissible"
        rationale = "Treats a person merely as a means, violating human dignity"
    else:
        verdict = "Permissible"
        rationale = "Maxim is universalizable and respects persons as ends"
    return {'framework': 'Kantian Deontology', 'verdict': verdict, 'rationale': rationale}

def virtue_evaluate(action: Action, virtuous_agent_would: bool) -> dict:
    """Virtue ethics: what would a person of excellent character do?"""
    return {
        'framework': 'Virtue Ethics',
        'verdict': 'Permissible' if virtuous_agent_would else 'Impermissible',
        'rationale': 'Assessed by reference to a person of practical wisdom (phronesis)'
    }

# The trolley problem
trolley_pull_lever = Action(
    name="Pull lever (divert trolley, kill 1 to save 5)",
    consequences={"five_people": +50.0, "one_person": -10.0},  # Net +40 utils
    uses_person_as_means=True,    # The one person becomes an instrument to save five
    universalizable=True           # "Divert threats to minimize harm" can be universalized
)

for evaluate in [utilitarian_evaluate, kantian_evaluate]:
    result = evaluate(trolley_pull_lever)
    print(f"\n{result['framework']}: {result['verdict']}")
    print(f"  → {result['rationale']}")

# Footbridge variant: push a large person off a bridge to stop trolley
push_person = Action(
    name="Push person off bridge to stop trolley",
    consequences={"five_people": +50.0, "one_person": -10.0},  # Same consequences
    uses_person_as_means=True,    # Person IS the means of stopping the trolley
    universalizable=False          # "Use people as obstacles" leads to contradiction
)
print("\n--- Footbridge variant ---")
print("Same utilitarian calculation → Pull lever = Push person (different intuitions!)")
print(f"Kantian: {kantian_evaluate(push_person)['verdict']}")
</syntaxhighlight>

; Key texts and thinkers
: '''Consequentialism''' → Bentham (''Introduction to Principles of Morals''), Mill (''Utilitarianism''), Singer (''Practical Ethics'')
: '''Deontology''' → Kant (''Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals''), Ross (prima facie duties), Scanlon (''What We Owe to Each Other'')
: '''Virtue Ethics''' → Aristotle (''Nicomachean Ethics''), MacIntyre (''After Virtue''), Foot (''Natural Goodness'')
: '''Social Contract''' → Hobbes (''Leviathan''), Locke, Rousseau, Rawls (''A Theory of Justice'')
: '''Metaethics''' → Moore, Mackie (''Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong''), Blackburn, Parfit (''On What Matters'')
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