Catholic and Enjoying It!
Yesterday I was struck by a complaint from a reader to the effect that “Shea calls anybody who disagrees with him a consequentialist”. This is very alarming and painful, of course, because it means I have obviously not got, in this case at least, a reader who can read.
To recap: consequentialism is basically “end justify the means” thinking. If you believe that the good ends you are trying to achieve allow you to do things which are intrinsically immoral (say, “Reduce future crime by killing this baby.” or “Prevent some hypothetical war in the future by pre-emptively attacking this country” or “Shoot this abortionist to stop him from performing an abortion” or “Nuke this city full of civilians to defeat this country” or “Do evil act A to achieve remote good end B), then you are a consequentialist.
If you think I’m ugly or stupid or a doodyhead, if you think Harry Potter is satanic, if you think I should have voted for McCain or Obama, if you disagree with me on *any* subject besides the question of whether or not you can do evil that good may come of it, you are not a consequentialist. Consequentialism is a word with an actual meaning describing a particular (condemned by the Magisterium) moral theory. It is not a general term of abuse.
Just so we’re clear.
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