WrongBot comments on Two straw men fighting - Less Wrong

2 Post author: JanetK 09 August 2010 08:53AM

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Comment author: WrongBot 09 August 2010 05:05:06PM *  0 points [-]

I think of moral questions as those for which there is no good answer. All courses of action and of inaction are bad in a moral question. Often because the possible answers pit the good of the individual against the good of the group, but also pit different groups and their interests against each other.

What do groups have to do with anything? They don't make decisions, people do. If a particular individual is a consequentialist, they should take whichever action is expected to produce the most utility. The truth or usefulness of determinism and free will might influence how we think about assigning moral blame or praise, but they don't tell us what we should do.