The demandingness objection is a common argument raised against utilitarianism and other consequentialist ethical theories. The consequentialist requirement that we maximise the good impartially seems to this objection to require us to perform acts that we would normally consider optional.
For example, if our resources maximise utility more efficiently when we donate them to charity rather than spending them on ourselves, we are, according to utilitarianism, morally required to do so. The objection holds that this clashes with our intuitions about morality, since we would normally consider such acts to "supererogatory" (praiseworthy but not obligatory). It is argued that because consequentialism appears to demand more than common-sense morality, it ought to be revised or rejected.
Read more about Demandingness Objection: Singer's Response, Nagel's Response
Famous quotes containing the word objection:
“The only thing that is unqualifiedly given is the total pervasive quality; and the objection to calling it “given” is that the word suggests something to which it is given, mind or thought or consciousness or whatever, as well possibly as something that gives.”
—John Dewey (1859–1952)