by Hi all !, i read some of your topics for some time now, and i have decided to take the first step to begin a discussion with you today.
I view a lot of things about NU, NLU, and CU, but nothing about LU (lexical utilitarianism), in fact i am not even sure that it’s the good name.
For me LU is the maximization of equity (not equality), in the utilitarian context. I base this on two mains principles:
- Pareto improvement of well-beings among beings is good, i think that all utilitarians agree with that. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_efficiency)
- It’s unjust to have the well-being of someone reduced, for increasing the well-being of a group already in a better situation that he is. (the equity principle).
This two principles lead directly to LU, then i have to deal with the unpleasant consequence of LU, the worst consequence that i can find is, express simply but informally by number: {-10000, 10000, 10000, …} < {-9999, -9999, -9999, …}
If i don’t want to accept this conclusion, the only way that i found is to have a trade ratio, but a trade ratio have the awful consequence that: ∃n, {-10000, 1, 1, … n time … } > {10000}
I prefer largely the first consequence, when i think about it, it seem to me acceptable, i can maybe developed a little more in that, but that rely mainly of the equity principle and the fact that all people will live only a "-9999" independently, then the suffering don’t really adds for create a greater sum.
I view a lot of things about NU, NLU, and CU, but nothing about LU (lexical utilitarianism), in fact i am not even sure that it’s the good name.
For me LU is the maximization of equity (not equality), in the utilitarian context. I base this on two mains principles:
- Pareto improvement of well-beings among beings is good, i think that all utilitarians agree with that. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_efficiency)
- It’s unjust to have the well-being of someone reduced, for increasing the well-being of a group already in a better situation that he is. (the equity principle).
This two principles lead directly to LU, then i have to deal with the unpleasant consequence of LU, the worst consequence that i can find is, express simply but informally by number: {-10000, 10000, 10000, …} < {-9999, -9999, -9999, …}
If i don’t want to accept this conclusion, the only way that i found is to have a trade ratio, but a trade ratio have the awful consequence that: ∃n, {-10000, 1, 1, … n time … } > {10000}
I prefer largely the first consequence, when i think about it, it seem to me acceptable, i can maybe developed a little more in that, but that rely mainly of the equity principle and the fact that all people will live only a "-9999" independently, then the suffering don’t really adds for create a greater sum.