Open Thread, November 23-30, 2013

passive_fist

If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.

Not very tempted, actually. In this hypothetical, since I'm not feeling empathy the murder wouldn't make me feel bad and I get money. But who says I have to decide based on how stuff makes me feel?

I might feel absolutely nothing for this stranger and still think "Having the money would be nice, but I guess that would lower net utility. I'll forego the money because utilitarianism says so." That's pretty much exactly what I think when donating to the AMF, and I don't see why a psychopath couldn't have that same thought.

I guess the question I'm getting at is, can you care about someone else and their utility function without feeling empathy for them? I think you can, and saying you can't just boils down to saying that ethics are determined by emotions.

can you care about someone else and their utility function without feeling empathy for them?

Caring about someone else's utility function is practically the definition of empathy.

1[anonymous]12y

I think that ethics, as it actually happens in human brains, are determined by emotions. What causes you to be an utilitarian?

0Viliam_Bur12y

They could. But if you select a random psychopath from the whole population, what is the probability of choosing an utilitarian? To be afraid of non-empathic people, you don't have to believe that all of them, without an exception, would harm you for their trivial gain. Just that many of them would.

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