β Scribed by Roland Paul Blum
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Some of the most significant recent writings in ethics have sought to demonstrate that utilitarian generalization is a fundamental presupposition of ethical thinking. The work which launched the discussion was Marcus Singer's Generalization in Ethics (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1961). His attempt to derive the "generalization argument," the argument that, "If the consequences of everyone's doing x would be undesirable, then no one ought to do x," elicited an unusual number of responses in the periodical literature? David Lyons' Forms and Limits of Utilitarianism (Oxford: the Clarendon Press, 1965) is the first book devoted almost entirely to developing a thesis which refutes Singer's argument and others similar to it.
Lyons seeks to demonstrate "extensional equivalence" between simple act utilitarianism and the theory of utilitarian generalization. Whereas the former looks only to the consequences of a particular act, the latter's assessment of that same act is based upon the consequences of a hypothetical situation in which "everyone" is performing it.
Against the generalist's assumption that his method yields results different from those of the act utilitarian Lyons launches a powerful attack. He holds that when a single act has been correctly described an assessment of its consequences will yield results identical with those obtained through a consideration of the universalized practice. In his terminology, there will be "extensional equivalence" between the utilities of generalized and simple acts.
Lyon's general conclusion is, I believe, correct. Nevertheless, the reasons he gives in support of his position are untenable and reveal a profound misunderstanding of the problems involved in act description. Since he shares his confusions with the very people he is attacking, an examination of his central argument will furnish new insight into the belief that universalization is relevant to ethical valuation.
I. LYONS' THEORY
Although buried in an enorn~ously technical argument, Lyons' thesis is basically a simple one. He believes that, given utilitarian presuppositions, the correct description of a single act will include all its "general 1 The most detailed examination of Singer's work, as well as reference to other discussions, is to be found in George Nakhnikian, "Generalization in Ethics," Review o] Metaphysics, xvii (March 1964), pp. 436-461.
π SIMILAR VOLUMES