The Moral Oracle’s Test

Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 17 (4):643-651 (2014)
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Abstract

When presented with a situation involving an agent’s choice between alternative actions, a moral oracle says what the agent is allowed to do. The oracle bases her advice on some moral theory, but the nature of that theory is not known by us. The moral oracle’s test consists in determining whether a series of questions to the oracle can be so constructed that her answers will reveal which of two given types of theories she adheres to. The test can be applied to moral theories in order to determine if they differ in their recommendations for action. Based on this test, a terminology is developed to specify different forms and degrees of distinguishability between moral theories, or types of theories, in terms of their recommendations for action. In conclusion, the test is applied to consequentialism and utilitarianism.

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10.1007/s10677-014-9500-5

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Sven Ove Hansson
Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm

Citations of this work

Scopes, Options, and Horizons – Key Issues in Decision Structuring.Sven Ove Hansson - 2018 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 21 (2):259-273.

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References found in this work

What We Owe to Each Other.Thomas Scanlon (ed.) - 1998 - Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Consequentialism and Cluelessness.James Lenman - 2000 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 29 (4):342-370.
Utilitarianism and welfarism.Amartya Sen - 1979 - Journal of Philosophy 76 (9):463-489.
Structures of Normative Theories.James Dreier - 1993 - The Monist 76 (1):22-40.
Consequentializing moral theories.Douglas W. Portmore - 2007 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 88 (1):39–73.

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