My own ethical position is easy to state: confused. ;)
There should be a post, intended for people about to embark on the topic of ethics and metaethics, providing guidance on even figuring out what your current intuitions are, and where they position you on the map of the standard debates.
My (post-school) readings on the topic have included Singer’s Practical Ethics and Rawls’ Theory of Justice. I was definitely more impressed and influenced by the latter. If pressed, I would call myself a contractarian. (Being French, I had early encounters with Rousseau, but I don’t remember those with any precision.)
I’m skeptical of the way “utility function” is often used, as a lily-gilding equivalent of “what I want”. I’m skeptical that interpersonal comparisons of utility have any value, such that “my utility function”, assuming there is such a thing, can be meaningfully aggregated with “your utility function”. Thus I’m skeptical that utility provides a useful guide to moral decisions.
My own ethical position is easy to state: confused. ;)
There should be a post, intended for people about to embark on the topic of ethics and metaethics, providing guidance on even figuring out what your current intuitions are, and where they position you on the map of the standard debates.
My (post-school) readings on the topic have included Singer’s Practical Ethics and Rawls’ Theory of Justice. I was definitely more impressed and influenced by the latter. If pressed, I would call myself a contractarian. (Being French, I had early encounters with Rousseau, but I don’t remember those with any precision.)
I’m skeptical of the way “utility function” is often used, as a lily-gilding equivalent of “what I want”. I’m skeptical that interpersonal comparisons of utility have any value, such that “my utility function”, assuming there is such a thing, can be meaningfully aggregated with “your utility function”. Thus I’m skeptical that utility provides a useful guide to moral decisions.