Title: More Seriously Wrong/More Importantly Right
Abstract: Common-sense morality divides acts into those that are right and those that are wrong, but among wrong acts it thinks some are more seriously wrong than others, for example murder than breaking a promise. This has several implications. If an act is more seriously wrong, you should feel more guilt about it and are, other things equal, more blameworthy and deserve more punishment for it; the act is also more to be avoided in conditions of empirical or moral uncertainty. This paper explores what determines how seriously wrong an act is and considers the possibility that the answer may be different if the act violates a deontological rather than a consequentialist duty. It also asks whether there is a parallel concept of more important rightness.
