Ethical Egoism, Utilitarianism and the fallacy of pragmatic inconsistency

How art thou out of breath when thou hast breath To say to me that thou art out of breath?

William Shakespeare,Romeo and Juliet.

But when I tell him he hates flatterers, He says he does, being then most flattered.

William Shakespeare,Julius Caesar.

Abstract

In this paper I shall consider the difficulty for Ethical Egoism, Act Utilitarianism and later what I shall call Cumulative Effect Utilitarianism, that they both commit the fallacy of pragmatic inconsistency. I shall distinguish various forms of the fallacy of pragmatic inconsistency; in particular I shall distinguish between the fallacy of direct and indirect pragmatic inconsistency, and shall argue that though both Ethical Egoism and Act Utilitarianism probably commit both, Cumulative Effect Utilitarianism does not.