Hi there, Matt here.

In my journey through classical ethics so far, I’ve covered the ideas of people who lived in worlds very different from our own. Socrates, Aristotle, Kant, and Hume all tackled the pressing issues of their own times, so it can be hard to relate to them without the full historical context — and who has time for that?

But in this installment, things start looking more familiar. Consequentialism is younger than America. It was invented as the pace of technology began to accelerate, as education was standardized and literacy was becoming common. As an ethical standpoint, it feels familiar, because much of today’s world was shaped by it.

So it makes sense that it’s a great way to think about ethical design.

As always, you can read the latest installment on my website:

Part IV: Consequentialism

I hope you like it.