I haven’t seen anyone who behaves like a true utilitarian.
That looks like a No True Scotsman argument to me. Just because the extreme doesn’t exist doesn’t mean that all of the scale can be explained by status games.
What does it have to do with “No True Scotsman”? NTS is when you redefine your categories to justify your claim. I don’t think I did that anywhere.
Just because the extreme doesn’t exist doesn’t mean that all of the scale can be explained by status games.
First, I didn’t say all the scale is explained by status games, I did mention empathy as well.
Second, that by itself sure doesn’t mean much. Explaining all the evidence would require an article, or maybe a book (although I hoped the posts I linked explain some of it). My point here is that there is an enormous discrepancy between the reported morality and the revealed preferences, so believing self-reports is clearly a non-starter. How do you build an explanation not from self-reports is a different (long) story.
If you try to quantify it, humans on average probably spend over 95% (Conservative estimation) of their time and resources on non-utilitarian causes. True utilitarian behavior Is extremely rare and all other moral behaviors seem to be either elaborate status games or extended self-interest [1]. The typical human is way closer under any relevant quantified KPI to being completely selfish than being a utilitarian.
[1] - Investing in your family/friends is in a way selfish, from a genes/alliances (respectively) perspective.
That looks like a No True Scotsman argument to me. Just because the extreme doesn’t exist doesn’t mean that all of the scale can be explained by status games.
What does it have to do with “No True Scotsman”? NTS is when you redefine your categories to justify your claim. I don’t think I did that anywhere.
First, I didn’t say all the scale is explained by status games, I did mention empathy as well.
Second, that by itself sure doesn’t mean much. Explaining all the evidence would require an article, or maybe a book (although I hoped the posts I linked explain some of it). My point here is that there is an enormous discrepancy between the reported morality and the revealed preferences, so believing self-reports is clearly a non-starter. How do you build an explanation not from self-reports is a different (long) story.
I agree that there is an enormous discrepancy.
If you try to quantify it, humans on average probably spend over 95% (Conservative estimation) of their time and resources on non-utilitarian causes. True utilitarian behavior Is extremely rare and all other moral behaviors seem to be either elaborate status games or extended self-interest [1]. The typical human is way closer under any relevant quantified KPI to being completely selfish than being a utilitarian.
[1] - Investing in your family/friends is in a way selfish, from a genes/alliances (respectively) perspective.