Agreed, but I’d like to point out that this is a false dichotomy: Utilitarianism can be the conclusion when following an internal approach. And seen that way, it doesn’t feel like you need to pressure yourself to follow some external standard. You simply need to pressure yourself to follow your own standard, i.e. make the best out of akrasia, addictions and sub-utility functions of your non-rational self that you would choose get rid of if you had a magic pill that could do so.
By “utilitarianism” I meant classical normative utilitarianism, i.e. utilitarianism is correct even if you don’t like it, even if you hate following it, and regardless of what a moral agent wants or likes, they should maximize world utility. Then utilitarianism has to be an external standard. The LW usage of the term is at odds with standard usage.
Agreed, but I’d like to point out that this is a false dichotomy: Utilitarianism can be the conclusion when following an internal approach. And seen that way, it doesn’t feel like you need to pressure yourself to follow some external standard. You simply need to pressure yourself to follow your own standard, i.e. make the best out of akrasia, addictions and sub-utility functions of your non-rational self that you would choose get rid of if you had a magic pill that could do so.
By “utilitarianism” I meant classical normative utilitarianism, i.e. utilitarianism is correct even if you don’t like it, even if you hate following it, and regardless of what a moral agent wants or likes, they should maximize world utility. Then utilitarianism has to be an external standard. The LW usage of the term is at odds with standard usage.