DaFranker comments on Does utilitarianism "require" extreme self sacrifice? If not why do people commonly say it does? - Less Wrong

7 Post author: Princess_Stargirl 09 December 2014 08:32AM

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Comment author: buybuydandavis 09 December 2014 09:43:10AM 5 points [-]

But I know of no one who claims to believe 2.

Then you don't know any utilitarians. Without 2, you don't have a moral theory.

La Wik:

Utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes utility, usually defined as maximizing total benefit and reducing suffering or the negatives.

Comment author: gjm 09 December 2014 12:30:36PM 7 points [-]

I think someone is still a utilitarian if instead of 2 they believe something like

2') One decision is morally better than another if it yields greater expected total utility.

(In particular, I don't think it's necessary for a moral theory to be based on a notion of moral requirement as opposed to one of moral preference.)

Comment author: SolveIt 09 December 2014 01:49:05PM 2 points [-]

Um, what's the difference?

Comment author: DaFranker 09 December 2014 02:47:23PM 2 points [-]

As ZankerH said, it leaves out the "required to make" part. Also, gjm's particular formulation of 2' makes a statement about comparisons between two given decisions, not a statement about the entire search space of possible decisions.

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