timtyler comments on A (small) critique of total utilitarianism - Less Wrong

36 Post author: Stuart_Armstrong 26 June 2012 12:36PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (237)

You are viewing a single comment's thread.

Comment author: timtyler 07 July 2012 09:57:41AM 0 points [-]

In total utilitarianism, it is a morally neutral act to kill someone (in a painless and unexpected manner) and creating/giving birth to another being of comparable happiness (or preference satisfaction or welfare).

Other members of society typically fail to approve of murder, and would apply sanctions to the utilitarian - probably hindering them in their pursuit of total utility. So, in practice, a human being pursuing total utilitarianism would simply not act in this way.