I think on re-reading this that Robin’s initial comment was meant to be ironic, or at least a provocative extension of Eliezer’s ideas.
As far as Eliezer’s point, I would imagine that rabbis and other moral philosophers would agree that saving two lives is better than saving one. Beyond that the calculus of human lives is a difficult problem. Many people would say we should not sacrifice one to save two. There is this distinction between active and passive actions, which are judged very differently. It’s all something of a mess.
Utilitarianism is unlikely to rescue anyone from the conundrum (unless it’s applied in the most mindless way—in which case, you might as well not think about it).
There’s an obvious social benefit to being secure against being randomly sacrificed for the benefit of others. You’re not going to be able to quantify the utility of providing everyone in society this benefit as a general social principle, and weigh the benefit of consistency on that point against the benefit of violating the principle in any given instance, any more easily than you could have decided the issue without any attempt at quantification.
I think on re-reading this that Robin’s initial comment was meant to be ironic, or at least a provocative extension of Eliezer’s ideas.
As far as Eliezer’s point, I would imagine that rabbis and other moral philosophers would agree that saving two lives is better than saving one. Beyond that the calculus of human lives is a difficult problem. Many people would say we should not sacrifice one to save two. There is this distinction between active and passive actions, which are judged very differently. It’s all something of a mess.
Utilitarianism to the rescue, then.
Utilitarianism is unlikely to rescue anyone from the conundrum (unless it’s applied in the most mindless way—in which case, you might as well not think about it).
There’s an obvious social benefit to being secure against being randomly sacrificed for the benefit of others. You’re not going to be able to quantify the utility of providing everyone in society this benefit as a general social principle, and weigh the benefit of consistency on that point against the benefit of violating the principle in any given instance, any more easily than you could have decided the issue without any attempt at quantification.