Since you found our agreement unexpected, it may give you a better perspective on this post to know that while it’s mostly addressed to utilitarians, I’m not a utilitarian myself. I do have a certain amount of intellectual sympathy towards utilitarianism, and would like to see its most coherent positions, and hear its strongest arguments, so my post was written in that spirit.
I’d also be quite interested in exploring other potentially viable approaches to moral philosophy. Given that you consider utilitarianism to be naive and verging on silly, what approaches do you find promising?
Let’s say I agree with the specific statements, which would be unexpected by the context if I were a utilitarian. I wouldn’t dream of accusing you of being a utilitarian given how much of an insult that would be given my position.
I’d also be quite interested in exploring other potentially viable approaches to moral philosophy. Given that you consider utilitarianism to be naive and verging on silly, what approaches do you find promising?
“The universe should be made to maximise my utility (best satisfy my preferences over possible states of the universe) ” is my moral philosophy. From that foundation altruism and cooperation considerations come into play. Except that some people define that as not a moral philosophy.
It seems to be much more biologically realistic than utilitariaism. Utilitarianism appears to be an ethical system based on clearly signalling how unselfish and nice you are. The signal seems somewhat tarnished by being pretty unbelievable, though. Do these people really avoid nepotism and favouring themselves? Or are they kidding themselves about their motives in the hope of deceiving others?
Yes. If you want your beliefs to pay rent, then you need to choose between features of reality rather than simply choose arbitrarily. Is there anything else that you believe arbitrarily? Why make an exception for moral philosophy? Reminds me of Status Quo Bias or keeping faith even after learning about other religions. Can you name a relevant difference?
Since you found our agreement unexpected, it may give you a better perspective on this post to know that while it’s mostly addressed to utilitarians, I’m not a utilitarian myself. I do have a certain amount of intellectual sympathy towards utilitarianism, and would like to see its most coherent positions, and hear its strongest arguments, so my post was written in that spirit.
I’d also be quite interested in exploring other potentially viable approaches to moral philosophy. Given that you consider utilitarianism to be naive and verging on silly, what approaches do you find promising?
Let’s say I agree with the specific statements, which would be unexpected by the context if I were a utilitarian. I wouldn’t dream of accusing you of being a utilitarian given how much of an insult that would be given my position.
“The universe should be made to maximise my utility (best satisfy my preferences over possible states of the universe) ” is my moral philosophy. From that foundation altruism and cooperation considerations come into play. Except that some people define that as not a moral philosophy.
That seems to be this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_egoism—which I would classify as some kind of moral philosophy.
It seems to be much more biologically realistic than utilitariaism. Utilitarianism appears to be an ethical system based on clearly signalling how unselfish and nice you are. The signal seems somewhat tarnished by being pretty unbelievable, though. Do these people really avoid nepotism and favouring themselves? Or are they kidding themselves about their motives in the hope of deceiving others?
It sounds silly and arbitrary when you discharge the references:
“The universe should be made to maximise widrifid’s utility (best satisfy widrifid’s preferences over possible states of the universe)”
Why not replace “widfirid” with “amcknight”? The fact that you happen to be yourself doesn’t sound like a good enough reason.
Is there some reason why moral philosophy can’t be arbitrary?
Yes. If you want your beliefs to pay rent, then you need to choose between features of reality rather than simply choose arbitrarily. Is there anything else that you believe arbitrarily? Why make an exception for moral philosophy? Reminds me of Status Quo Bias or keeping faith even after learning about other religions. Can you name a relevant difference?
That sounds like a good description of moralizing to me!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism#Criticism_and_defense goes over some of the common issues.