Categorizing objections to Utilitarianism

Whether it's pushpin, poetry or neither, you can discuss it here.

Categorizing objections to Utilitarianism

Postby Douglas.Reay on 2013-10-09T12:11:00

In the previous Felicifia forum there was a discussion on how to categorize the various objections to Utilitarianism that people have proposed, into general groups that, between them, cover all proposed objections.

There's a provisional breakdown into groups at:

Precedent Utilitarianism

Has anyone here come across any proposed objections that don't fit into the top level categories:

  • The theory is not self-consistent
  • The theory is not well-defined enough to be usable
  • The theory can't be followed in practice, for some reason other than how well-defined it is
  • The theory shouldn't be followed because doing so, in practice, would lead to bad consequences

Douglas.Reay
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Oct 09, 2013 10:53 am

Re: Categorizing objections to Utilitarianism

Postby DanielLC on 2013-10-12T00:24:00

Yes. The theory is wrong. That is, utilitarianism is bad not because there's anything contradictory about the theory or wrong about the consequences, but because you shouldn't by thinking of people as tools, or some other deontological or virtue ethical reason.
Consequentialism: The belief that doing the right thing makes the world a better place.

DanielLC
 
Posts: 703
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2008 4:29 pm


Return to General discussion