Tagarchief: ethical principles
The two intrinsic rights that restrict utilitarianism
Let us start with utilitarianism, the ethical theory that says we have to choose the situation or state of the world that has the highest amount of total utility. Total utility is the sum of individual utilities, summed over all … Lees verder
Unwanted arbitrariness, dictatorship and discrimination
Everyone who makes a choice has to avoid unwanted arbitrariness as much as possible. This is a fundamental principle in ethics, in the sense that it applies to all moral choices. This anti-arbitrariness principle is the reason why dictatorship and … Lees verder
An ethical minefield. Stepping from the worst to the best population ethical theories
About ten years ago, during my studies in moral philosophy, I encountered the area of population ethics. It is clearly one of the most tricky areas in ethics, a minefield of very counterintuitive conclusions. But it is also one of … Lees verder
Asymmetry in ethical principles
In general, we have to avoid unwanted arbitrariness in ethics. Arbitrariness is closely related to the notion of asymmetry. Symmetry means that an object looks the same after performing a transformation. Consider a perfect sphere with a uniform color. This … Lees verder
The problem of counting persons and conscious experiences
Introduction All else equal, saving two people is better than saving one person, two hours of pain is worse than one hour of pain and an election candidate that has two votes from two people is more likely to win … Lees verder
Why I became a utilitarian
Abstract In this article I explain how a specific utilitarian theory (variance normalized variable critical level rule preference utilitarianism that says we have to choose the situation that maximizes the sum of everyone’s just-noticeable difference normalized self-determined relative utilities) avoids … Lees verder
Variable critical level utilitarianism as the solution to population ethics
Summary Population ethics is probably the most important area in moral philosophy for effective altruists who want to do the most good. There are some very serious problems in population ethics that relate to crucial considerations about doing the most … Lees verder
The three most defensible principles in ethics
From eight to five to three: this article is the result of a long process of several years, searching for the most important or fundamental ethical principles, refining, simplifying and deleting principles until we end up with the three ethical … Lees verder
The minimum complaint theory and maximum autonomy
The minimum complaint theory The minimum complaint theory is a new moral theory that avoids a lot of problems in welfare ethics and population ethics. It is probably the strongest ethical theory in the sense that it can be most … Lees verder
