The difference we make : a reply to Pinkert

• Main Authors: Forcehimes, Andrew T., Semrau, Luke
• Other Authors: School of Humanities
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Humanities::Philosophy; Collective Action; Objections to Consequentialism
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/142790
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Do you have reason to reduce your carbon emissions? The answer, it seems, depends on what others do. If concerted, our efforts to mitigate the harms of climate change will be significant. If you act alone, your efforts will be merely costs. Examples with this structure are easily multiplied. Such no-difference cases, where no individual’s contribution makes a difference, give rise to a troubling possibility. For any moral theory that treats deontic verdicts as a function of the consequences of an agent’s actions offers no counsel. One’s contribution does not matter morally. Since no one person makes a difference, no one person makes a moral difference. Call this the no-difference problem.