You often see the Doctor say “I’m not going to doom innocents to save a greater number” and something saves everyone anyway
I find that undermines a lot of enjoyment for me. A Hard Choice is presented, the Doctor does something that seems deontologically virtuous but consequentially absurd, and then deus ex machina the consequences of the Hard Choice are wiped away.
Perhaps he knows he is living in a just universe where moral realism proves deontology correct, and ignoring consequentialism leads to the best consequences. Depending on the writer.
Well, if you want to write a fictional scenario in which deontology proves better than consequentialism, you kinda have to make the consequences of the deontological decision better than those of the consequentialist one. I agree that it’s ironic, though, to be justifying deontology on consequentialist grounds (it saved more lives in the end, ha!).
I find that undermines a lot of enjoyment for me. A Hard Choice is presented, the Doctor does something that seems deontologically virtuous but consequentially absurd, and then deus ex machina the consequences of the Hard Choice are wiped away.
Perhaps he knows he is living in a just universe where moral realism proves deontology correct, and ignoring consequentialism leads to the best consequences. Depending on the writer.
Well, if you want to write a fictional scenario in which deontology proves better than consequentialism, you kinda have to make the consequences of the deontological decision better than those of the consequentialist one. I agree that it’s ironic, though, to be justifying deontology on consequentialist grounds (it saved more lives in the end, ha!).