https://splint.rs/tags/philosophyutilitarianism/ Recent content in Philosophy,"Utilitarianism" on Splint.rs Hugo -- gohugo.io en CC0 or whatever, I'm not your dad Tue, 07 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://splint.rs/posts/utility_monster/ Tue, 07 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://splint.rs/posts/utility_monster/ <p>Robert Nozick created his 'utility monster' thought-experiment to show a fatal flaw in Utilitarianism.</p> <blockquote> <p>Utilitarian theory is embarrassed by the possibility of utility monsters who get enormously greater sums of utility from any sacrifice of others than these others lose...the theory seems to require that we all be sacrificed in the monster's maw, in order to increase total utility.</p> </blockquote> <h2 id="the-stakes-vs-fiction">The Stakes vs Fiction</h2> <p>Utilitarian Ethical theory attempts to create a rigorous, basic, formula for determining good actions from bad. If humanity found that it reliably works as an ethical theory, we could put an end to all manner of ethical debates.</p>