Comment on Survey Results

Thu, 14 May 2009 00:39:54 GMT

Deontological principles often help maximize utility indirectly, as I'm sure most utilitarians agree in contexts like war and criminal justice. Still, I agree deontology can bias people in the direction of libertarian politics.

It seems more the other way to me--die-hard libertarians tend toward deontological positions, typically by gradual reification of consequentialist instrumental values into deontological terminal values ("free markets usually produce the best results" becomes "free markets are Good", &c.).

On the other hand, folk economics can bias people away from libertarian politics.

This is true, of course, and it's worth noting that I agree with a substantial majority of libertarian positions, which is part of why I find some aspects of libertarianism so irritating--it helps marginalize a political outlook that could be doing some good.

Since utilitarianism values the sum of all future generations far more than it values the current generation, it seems like (if we ignore that existential risks are even more important) utilitarianism recommends whatever policies grow the economy the fastest in the long run. That might be an argument for libertarianism but it might also be an argument for governments spending lots of money subsidizing research and development.

I'd think more likely it'd be an argument for both--subsidized research combined with lowered barriers to entry for innovative businesses--tile the country with alternating universities and silicon valley-type startup hotbeds, essentially (see also: Paul Graham's wet dream).

Anyway, I don't think it's the case that all forms of utilitarianism assign value to future generations that may or may not ever exist. Assigning value to potential entities seems fraught with peril.

Discuss