Share this comment
I think this post overlooks the way that utilitarian systems only work if they can solve all problems, while many other systems of ethics continue to work if their axiom sets are incomplete. Utilitarianism claims that a simple set of axioms can answer all moral problems. Before you can use utilitarianism to answer any questions, you need…
I think this post overlooks the way that utilitarian systems only work if they can solve all problems, while many other systems of ethics continue to work if their axiom sets are incomplete. Utilitarianism claims that a simple set of axioms can answer all moral problems. Before you can use utilitarianism to answer any questions, you need to choose a set of axioms. These then necessarily apply to all problems - otherwise, you would need some rule saying where they stop applying, and I don’t recall seeing any serious utilitarians proposing these. Without a stopping point given in an explicit rule, utilitarianism depends on something that is repugnant.
Most philosophical systems I know have some kind of repugnant consequence - that’s why philosophy isn’t solved. But the repugnant conclusions arising from those systems are different. Kant’s categorical imperative says you should tell a murderer where their next victim is, and you can’t accept the categorical imperative unless you’re okay with that. But you can accept the categorical imperative without having clear opinions about extreme world states. Utilitarianism has a different trade-off. You can’t accept any specific set of utilitarian axioms without unless you’re okay with the corresponding claim about extreme world-states.
Silence isn’t necessarily a virtue, but sometimes it’s better than being wrong.