MugaSofer comments on Welcome to Less Wrong! (5th thread, March 2013) - Less Wrong
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If there are a lot of similar agents in similar positions, Kantian ethics works, no matter what their goals. For example, theft may appear to have positive expected value - assuming you're selfish - but it has positive expected value for lots of people, and if they all stole the economy would collapse.
OTOH, if you are in an unusual position, the Categorical Imperative only has force if you take it as axiomatic.
That's not a version of Kantian ethics, it's a hack for designing a society without privileging yourself. If you're selfish, it's a bad idea.