orthonormal comments on The "Intuitions" Behind "Utilitarianism" - Less Wrong

29 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 28 January 2008 04:29PM

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Comment author: orthonormal 25 February 2012 08:12:18PM 6 points [-]

Well, I didn't downvote, but I think your comment misses the point. The discussion is about the requirements of a sane metaethics, specifically that you can't have both "mundane things which are still worth trying to achieve or avoid" and "sacred things that can never be compromised for the sake of mundane things". You have to treat them both quantitatively, or else never make a decision on the basis of mundane things, or else be inconsistent; and so there really has to be a point where a larger probability (or preponderance) of a "mundane" consideration outweighs a tiny probability (or preponderance) of a "sacred" one.

The precise degree to which torture is awful is kind of irrelevant to this debate. Pick another example if this one doesn't work for you.