Utilitarians can thereby extricate themselves from their prima facie conclusion that it’s right to kill the innocent man. However, the solution has the form: “We cannot do what is best utility-wise because others, who are not utilitarians, will respond in ways that damage utility to an even greater extent than we have increased it.”
However, this kind of solution doesn’t speak very well for utilitarianism, for consider an alternative: “We cannot do what is best paperclip-wise because others, who are not paperclippers, will respond in ways that tend to reduce the long term future paperclip-count.”
In fact, Clippy can ‘get the answer right’ on a surprisingly high proportion of moral questions if he is prepared to be circumspect, consider the long term, and keep in mind that no-one but him is maximizing paperclips.
But then this raises the question: Assuming we lived in a society of utilitarians, who feel no irrational fear at the thought of being harvested for the greater good, and no moral indignation when others are so harvested, would this practice be ‘right’? Would that entire society be ‘morally preferable’ to ours?
Utilitarians can thereby extricate themselves from their prima facie conclusion that it’s right to kill the innocent man. However, the solution has the form: “We cannot do what is best utility-wise because others, who are not utilitarians, will respond in ways that damage utility to an even greater extent than we have increased it.”
However, this kind of solution doesn’t speak very well for utilitarianism, for consider an alternative: “We cannot do what is best paperclip-wise because others, who are not paperclippers, will respond in ways that tend to reduce the long term future paperclip-count.”
In fact, Clippy can ‘get the answer right’ on a surprisingly high proportion of moral questions if he is prepared to be circumspect, consider the long term, and keep in mind that no-one but him is maximizing paperclips.
But then this raises the question: Assuming we lived in a society of utilitarians, who feel no irrational fear at the thought of being harvested for the greater good, and no moral indignation when others are so harvested, would this practice be ‘right’? Would that entire society be ‘morally preferable’ to ours?