… but to be able to say that utilitarianism in all its forms was “wrong” would require an external standard. Ethical realism really is wrong.
Utilitarianism can be wrong as a description of actual human values, or of ‘the values humans would self-modify to if they fully understood the consequences of various self-modification paths’.
OK, but that’s an is-ought issue. I didn’t perceive the question as being about factual human values, but about what people should do. It’s an ethical system, after all, not a scientific system.
Utilitarianism can be wrong as a description of actual human values, or of ‘the values humans would self-modify to if they fully understood the consequences of various self-modification paths’.
OK, but that’s an is-ought issue. I didn’t perceive the question as being about factual human values, but about what people should do. It’s an ethical system, after all, not a scientific system.