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PaperclipPerfector  25d ago (text post)   26113 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 25, 2024

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This is rich. You complain about utilitarianism leading to antisocial outcomes, and then you continue:

There is no metaphysical or metaethical reason why one should inherently care about the suffering of those who are not even constitutionally capable of agreeing to or following the social contract.

Did you just say that it is ok to torture two-year-olds to death? At least if they are without guardians who would care about them, they are terminally ill (so they won't grow up to be an ethics-capable person) and you keep it secret (so you won't upset the general population).

Utilitarianism certainly has its share of problems, but at least it gets "pain is universally bad, even if it is felt by some entity who could never reciprocate with you" right without having to add any epicycles.

I think that hypothetical is correct. It shares a lot of similarities with post-birth abortion, which, while aesthetically repugnant, is probably okay in the strict metaethical sense I am talking about.

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