I agree. I think of myself as a utilitarian in the same subjective sense that I think of myself as (kind of) identifying with voting Democrats (not that I’m a US citizen). I disagree with Republican values, but it wouldn’t even occur to me to poison a Republican neighbor’s tea so they can’t go voting. Sure, there’s a sense in which one could interpret “Democrat values” fanatically, so they might imply that I prefer worlds where the neighbor doesn’t vote, where then we’re tempted to wonder whether ends do justify the means in certain situations. But thinking like that seems like a category error if the sense in which I consider myself a Democrat is just one part of my larger political views, where I also think of things in terms of respecting the political process. So, it’s the same with morality and my negative utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is my altruism-inspired life goal, the reason I get up in the morning, the thing I’d vote for and put efforts towards. But it’s not what I think is the universal law for everyone. Contractualism is how I deal with the fact that other people have life goals different from mine. Nowadays, whenever I see discussions like “Is classical utilitarianism right or is it negative utilitarianism after all?” – I cringe.
I agree. I think of myself as a utilitarian in the same subjective sense that I think of myself as (kind of) identifying with voting Democrats (not that I’m a US citizen). I disagree with Republican values, but it wouldn’t even occur to me to poison a Republican neighbor’s tea so they can’t go voting. Sure, there’s a sense in which one could interpret “Democrat values” fanatically, so they might imply that I prefer worlds where the neighbor doesn’t vote, where then we’re tempted to wonder whether ends do justify the means in certain situations. But thinking like that seems like a category error if the sense in which I consider myself a Democrat is just one part of my larger political views, where I also think of things in terms of respecting the political process. So, it’s the same with morality and my negative utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is my altruism-inspired life goal, the reason I get up in the morning, the thing I’d vote for and put efforts towards. But it’s not what I think is the universal law for everyone. Contractualism is how I deal with the fact that other people have life goals different from mine. Nowadays, whenever I see discussions like “Is classical utilitarianism right or is it negative utilitarianism after all?” – I cringe.