I'm
sorry, but this is just a dodge -- playing with words. Mill doesn't
really know what the long term consequences of instituting certain
rights are. For all we know, the rights he favors (or the ones I
favor) do NOT maximize happiness or welfare.
And all Brandt is doing is making a place for individual rights
that are to be protected in spite of some marginal gains in utility
that would result from violating them. But the fact that he is only
talking about marginal gains is significant. Really full-blooded
individual rights have to be protected in spite of major gains to
utility.
Sorry folk, this won't due. Utilitarianism and serious individual
rights just don't fit together.
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