Author:
Wade A. Tisthammer
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Date Posted: 12/15/02 11:11pm
In reply to:
Damoclese
's message, "My answer" on 12/15/02 3:49pm
>I don't adhere to any of those categories in
>particular because I don't think it is possible for
>humans to ever arrive at what is definitively moral
>and what isn't as this would be an example of our
>senses perceiving something about reality.
I neglected one category: ethical skepticism (the state of not knowing whether or not morals exist).
>I do however, in the world of experience think that in
>order to engauge in conversations about morality, one
>most postulate that morality exists to begin with,
>though it may well be the case that it doesn't.
Not necessarily. A noncognitivist can easily become a part of conversations about morality. I myself am a witness to this event.
>Hence, the golden rule to me in the world of
>experience is to do the least harm for the most
>people. It isn't okay to kill an infant to the
>pleasure of the masses because the masses aren't going
>to be as harmed as the killing of the infant.
This sounds like “least pain” rather than “greatest happiness.” An interesting twist on utilitarianism. What part, if any, does pleasure take part in this?
>They
>aren't going to experience the joy of it, but this is
>far less of a problem than inflicting suffering
>(because the masses won't know the difference if it
>never happens).
Well, they would in the scenario I described.
>If the situation were to kill an
>infant or to let everyone else die, then the infant
>could be killed, and the principle wouldn't be
>violated.
Hmm, how about this hypothetical case. Suppose killing an innocent person would decrease the overall pain in the world by forever preventing a multitude of people from having the non-lethal flu. What does your ethical philosophy say about this?
As you might guess, the main beef I have about utilitarian ethics is that it often fails to sufficiently take into account the concept of justice, a concept which I believe is fundamental to a sound metaethical theory.
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