Thanks for speaking up. I just framed this as a verbal question for convenience. Massimo talks about how utilitarianism leads him to the conclusion that most people must be extremely bad, and that this is counterintuitive enough for him to reject utilitarianism. My hypothesis is that he means that the way that his brain natively evaluates responsibility does not agree with an evaluation of responsibility that is equivalent to asking “What are the consequences of this action or inaction?” Virtue-ethical language doesn’t come into play because they’re looking for reasons not to be utilitarians, not ways to be virtue ethicists. Does that make sense?
Thanks for speaking up. I just framed this as a verbal question for convenience. Massimo talks about how utilitarianism leads him to the conclusion that most people must be extremely bad, and that this is counterintuitive enough for him to reject utilitarianism. My hypothesis is that he means that the way that his brain natively evaluates responsibility does not agree with an evaluation of responsibility that is equivalent to asking “What are the consequences of this action or inaction?” Virtue-ethical language doesn’t come into play because they’re looking for reasons not to be utilitarians, not ways to be virtue ethicists. Does that make sense?