I find them quite appalling, however. What do you mean, saving four lives is less important than the virtue of not pushing people under trolleys?
I find simplistic consequentialist views such as this one appalling, if anything because they combine supreme self-assuredness about important problems with ignorance and lack of insight about their vitally important aspects. (See my responses in the Consequentialism FAQ thread for more detail, especially the ones dealing specifically with trolley problems.)
simplistic consequentialist views such as this one
ignorance and lack of insight
Waaah! You're a meanie mean-head! :( By which I mean: this was a one-sentence reaction to simplistic virtue ethics. I agree it's not a valid criticism of complex systems like Alicorn's tiered deontology. I also agree it's fair to describe this view as simplistic - at the end of the day, I do in fact hold the naive view. I disagree that it can only exist in ignorance of counterarguments. In general, boiling down a position to one sentence provides no way to distinguish between...
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