[Avodah] Balancing needs

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 10:12:57PM -0000, Chana Luntz wrote:
: I agree with the analysis in this case.  And my instincts are that halacha
: is generally not utilitarian - but I would be loathe at this stage to say
: that it is *never* utilitarian, and certainly that it is never
: consequentialist.  After all, the definition of wisdom in pirkei avos
: relates to being able to identify consequences.  Is one not to apply wisdom,
: or is wisdom irrelevant to the application of halacha? 

Defining terms, just to minimize misunderstanding as well as to help
readers who aren't used to them (borrowing from wikipedia):

consequentialism: the moral worth of an action is determined only by
its resulting outcome, and that one can only weigh the morality of an
action after knowing all its consequences.

utilitarianism: the proper course of action is the one that maximizes
the overall happiness.

deontological ethics: from the greek word meeting chiyuv + logia. Rules
bind you to your duties.





I am not sure what utilitarian but not consequentialist ethics would look
like. Whomever wrote the utilitarianism page on wikipedia also doesn't,
because they write that utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism.

In any case, wisdeom is relevent to deontological ethics, as is knowing
consequences. The difference is which consequences are most relevent: who
becomes the victim and how badly (consequentialism) or who becomes corrupted
and how badly (deontologism)

Deontology makes sense from the context of many resolutions of
hashgachah peratis and bechirah chafshis. Bechirah is a question of
how I act, what my intended target actually receives is orchestrated
by the Almighty. (Including utilizing my choices, or whatever else the
particular resolution involves.) Therefore, the consequences to others
is His problem; it's only the corrupting action on the actor (ha'adim
nif'al lefi pe'ulaso) that is mine.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Mussar is like oil put in water,
micha at aishdas.org        eventually it will rise to the top.
http://www.aishdas.org                    - Rav Yisrael Salanter
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