Skip to main content

Option A: Accuracy

4. Potential Criticisms

Potential Criticisms

 

Disproportionate Impact on Minorities: If maximising accuracy results in a higher error rate for certain groups, such as African-Americans, consequentialists must grapple with the moral acceptability of this disparity. Is the aggregate benefit worth the potential for unequal burdens across groups? This remains an ethical tension within consequentialism, particularly when societal benefit comes at the expense of fairness for some.

Risk of Overlooking Structural Inequalities: Even with an emphasis on reducing severe errors, maximising accuracy could perpetuate biases present in historical data, reinforcing systemic inequities. A pure consequentialist view may risk insufficient attention to how these structural factors create unequal starting points for different groups.