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Unknowns comments on High energy ethics and general moral relativity - Less Wrong Discussion

8 Post author: maxikov 21 June 2015 08:34PM

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Comment author: Unknowns 22 June 2015 10:23:54AM 3 points [-]

Utilitarianism does not support anything in particular in the abstract, since it always depends on the resulting utilities, which can be different in different circumstances. So it is especially unreasonable to argue for utilitarianism on the grounds that it supports various liberties such as gay rights. Rights normally express something like a deontological claim that other people should leave me alone, and such a thing can never be supported in the abstract by utilitarianism. In particular, it would not support gay rights if too many people are offended by them, which was likely true in the past.