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I don't always agree with Fred,
but I want to reinforce his comment on
utilitarianism.
Before we throw
utilitarianism out, let's keep in mind that it
captures a basic moral intuition. That
intuition tells us that we ought to do what is
good. We ought to increase the good in this
world. Maybe the utilitarians were wrong to
try to maximize aggregate good at great cost
to some individuals. But let's not lose track
of the basic intuition being put forward here.
Some philosophers have
suggested that utilitarianism needs is to be
qualified or supplemented by a theory of fair
shares. The point of such a qualification is
to prevent the kinds of tradeoffs that
utilitarianism allows in principle. In other
words, it would prevent making some people
miserable in order to maximize the aggregate
amount of good.
It seems to me that
utilitarianism and libertarianism both capture
important moral intuitions. The one seeks to
increase the amount of good in the world. The
other seeks to protect the value and autonomy
of the individual. Perhaps our challenge is to
combine them both into a coherent and morally
satisfying whole.
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