Rough definitions: good for agent X—net positive utility for agent X, evil for agent X—net negative utility for agent X. Or possibly: evil for agent X—a utility function that conflicts with that of agent X.
Good and evil don’t have to be “written into the structure of the universe” to be coherent concepts. I assume you make choices. What is your criterion for choice? I also assume that you aren’t completely selfish. You care about the welfare of other people at least to some degree right?
Of course, if two people/agents truly have differing utility functions, what is good to one may be evil to the other, but that doesn’t invalidate the concepts of good and evil.
I call an action “good” when it is what you should do - i.e. it has normative force behind it. This includes all choices. So, yes, it is a broader concept than traditional ‘goodness,’ but thats fine.
I usually reserve “desired and undesired” to refer to the psychological impulses that we sometimes fight and sometimes go along with. I may desire that second piece of chocolate cake, but if I really think it through, I don’t really want to eat it—I shouldn’t eat it. The economist’s utility function probably refers to desires since the goal is to model actual behavior, but the ethicist’s utility function is built with a completely different goal in mind.
Rough definitions: good for agent X—net positive utility for agent X, evil for agent X—net negative utility for agent X. Or possibly: evil for agent X—a utility function that conflicts with that of agent X.
Good and evil don’t have to be “written into the structure of the universe” to be coherent concepts. I assume you make choices. What is your criterion for choice? I also assume that you aren’t completely selfish. You care about the welfare of other people at least to some degree right?
Of course, if two people/agents truly have differing utility functions, what is good to one may be evil to the other, but that doesn’t invalidate the concepts of good and evil.
That’s not ‘good and evil’, just ‘desired and undesired’ - much milder and broader concepts.
I call an action “good” when it is what you should do - i.e. it has normative force behind it. This includes all choices. So, yes, it is a broader concept than traditional ‘goodness,’ but thats fine.
I usually reserve “desired and undesired” to refer to the psychological impulses that we sometimes fight and sometimes go along with. I may desire that second piece of chocolate cake, but if I really think it through, I don’t really want to eat it—I shouldn’t eat it. The economist’s utility function probably refers to desires since the goal is to model actual behavior, but the ethicist’s utility function is built with a completely different goal in mind.