Comment author: BaconServ 29 September 2013 02:17:05AM 1 point [-]

Each case is solved by what society seems to have mutually concluded:

  • Breaking up hurts, but being "strung along" is worse. I myself have advised coming clean due to the ever-more extreme pain resulting from the inevitable breakup. In the end, your ex-partner will be better off when they get over you.
  • Management is an unsolved problem in society, but the co-workers of that employee will almost certainly conclude that he did not deserve to be fired. Managers themselves will often agree with this assessment, but somehow reach the conclusion that it needed to happen regardless. Perhaps his happiness is outweighed by the distributed quality of the company's income and the remaining employees? Management often does not make its reasoning entirely clear.
  • Stealing someone else's partner is considered to be a very bad practice. It is also existentially risky.
Comment author: abcd_z 29 September 2013 02:37:22AM 0 points [-]

That last one was meant as in "he's a player that just met her and so am I."

A question about utilitarianism and selfishness.

-2 abcd_z 29 September 2013 01:03AM

Utilitarianism seems to indicate that the greatest good for the most people generally revolves around their feelings.  A person feeling happy and confident is a desired state, a person in pain and misery is undesirable.

But what about taking selfish actions that hurt another person's feelings?  If I'm in a relationship and breaking up with her would hurt her feelings, does that mean I have a moral obligation to stay with her?  If I have an employee who is well-meaning but isn't working out, am I morally allowed to fire him?  Or what about at a club?  A guy is talking to a woman, and she's ready to go home with him.  I could socially tool him and take her home myself, but doing so would cause him greater unhappiness than I would have felt if I'd left them alone.

In a nutshell, does utilitarianism state that I am morally obliged to curb my selfish desires so that other people can be happy?

Comments (26)
Comment author: metatroll 19 July 2013 05:29:00AM 4 points [-]

You could try autoaruspicy...

Comment author: abcd_z 19 July 2013 05:40:00AM 0 points [-]

what's that?

Comment author: Dorikka 19 July 2013 04:49:57AM 9 points [-]

I'm inclined to say that this belongs in an Open Thread, especially as they're posted more often now.

Comment author: abcd_z 19 July 2013 05:16:58AM 5 points [-]

What's an Open Thread and why would this belong there?

Comment author: Jonathan_Graehl 19 July 2013 04:23:48AM 0 points [-]

bummer, man :) cute post.

Comment author: abcd_z 19 July 2013 04:33:13AM 1 point [-]

Thanks. :)

Comment author: Mestroyer 19 July 2013 03:45:54AM 3 points [-]

Oh, I didn't know you broke up.

You explicitly broke up, and your prior for "she's over you" is only 30%?

Also, if she was breaking up, but maybe changing her mind, a 90% chance of answering your call seems too high, but I have no experience with these matters.

Comment author: abcd_z 19 July 2013 03:53:14AM 0 points [-]

Ah. Sorry I didn't make that clear.
Yeah, that particular prior is low at least partly because of my wishful thinking.

Not that it seems to have helped. =/

Comment author: wedrifid 19 July 2013 03:30:30AM 4 points [-]

Evidence ratio of her missing my call: 90%:10% = 9:1

If I assumed this prior I'd have to conclude that I'm over, like, everyone.

Comment author: abcd_z 19 July 2013 03:41:04AM 1 point [-]

She almost never missed my calls.

Comment author: Mestroyer 19 July 2013 03:32:07AM 0 points [-]

I don't know why it would be redundant. If she has a certain probability of getting over you every day, and you called her and interacted normally Yesterday, then for it to be 30%, would require that she had a 30% chance of getting over you in a day, before you knew anything about whether she answered your call or not.

Comment author: abcd_z 19 July 2013 03:38:38AM 0 points [-]

I don't trust my accuracy of measurement from the time we broke up until now. The relationship between us has been...uncertain, and her ignoring my calls is the first behavioral cue I can point to and say "Okay, that means there's a good chance she's over me."

Comment author: Mestroyer 19 July 2013 03:10:24AM 3 points [-]

The math is correct, but I don't know if those priors are realistic. Particularly the "10%" one. I miss like 50% of calls in general, having nothing to do with who's calling me. And remember that the "probability that she's over me," should be probability that she got over you since the last time you checked.

Comment author: abcd_z 19 July 2013 03:19:27AM 0 points [-]

And remember that the "probability that she's over me," should be probability that she got over you since the last time you checked.

Wouldn't that be redundant?

Comment author: Mestroyer 19 July 2013 03:10:24AM 3 points [-]

The math is correct, but I don't know if those priors are realistic. Particularly the "10%" one. I miss like 50% of calls in general, having nothing to do with who's calling me. And remember that the "probability that she's over me," should be probability that she got over you since the last time you checked.

Comment author: abcd_z 19 July 2013 03:17:09AM 1 point [-]

She would always get back to me within a short amount of time when she found out she missed my call. The only times that hasn't happened was when the phone glitched and she was unaware that I'd tried to contact her.

If anything, 10% is a little high.

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