Confession...

So, I have a confession to make: I'm an avid viewer of the Great British Bake Off (BBC2, Tuesday 9pm). I like nothing better than to curl up with a cup of tea, a pile of marking and watch passionate bakers produce beautiful cakes, pies, biscuits, bread... But this is the thing - I can't bake. More than this, I can't be bothered to bake, I don't like baking. (In fact, if I'm being really honest, I'm not that big a fan of cooking either!) 

This made me think about the issue of appreciation - is the act of appreciating something a moral act? Is it ok to appreciate the baking on this programme if you can't or don't want to bake yourself? What do we appreciate - the object produced or the love and passion that has gone into making it, and which is the 'right' form of appreciation? Can it be right to appreciate one thing and wrong to appreciate another? Can one appreciate something truly if one has never experienced it properly? Some scholars talk of the consensus morality of appreciation; in other words, the things that are identified as objects worthy of appreciation are decided by consensus, by the agreement of society as a whole. It could be argued that the entire fashion industry is predicated on this assumption. Many ethical theories take this view - that is, that the right or wrong thing to do is agreed by societal consensus. 

Is this a good approach to moral decision-making? Find out more about Utilitarianism - how might this fit with the consensus approach?