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Single Idea 3877

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / E. Utilitarianism / 4. Unfairness ]

Full Idea

If I discreetly murdered a gloomy and solitary tramp who was upsetting people in my village, if is hard to see how utilitarianism could demonstrate that I had done something wrong.

Gist of Idea

Utilitarianism seems to justify the discreet murder of unhappy people

Source

PG (Db (ideas) [2031])

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The 16 ideas from 'Db (ideas)'

4465	Note that "is" can assert existence, or predication, or identity, or classification [PG]

7415	Question-begging assumes the proposition which is being challenged [PG]

4686	Fallacies are errors in reasoning, 'formal' if a clear rule is breached, and 'informal' if more general [PG]

7414	What is true of a set is also true of its members [PG]

6696	The Ad Hominem Fallacy criticises the speaker rather than the argument [PG]

4687	Minimal theories of truth avoid ontological commitment to such things as 'facts' or 'reality' [PG]

6516	Monty Hall Dilemma: do you abandon your preference after Monty eliminates one of the rivals? [PG]

24054

Everything has a probability, something will happen, and probabilities add up [PG]

3875	If reality is just what we perceive, we would have no need for a sixth sense [PG]

3876	If my team is losing 3-1, I have synthetic a priori knowledge that they need two goals for a draw [PG]

7734	Maybe a mollusc's brain events for pain ARE of the same type (broadly) as a human's [PG]

7735	Maybe a frog's brain events for fear are functionally like ours, but not phenomenally [PG]

3877	Utilitarianism seems to justify the discreet murder of unhappy people [PG]

3874	How could God know there wasn't an unknown force controlling his 'free' will? [PG]

6126	Life is Movement, Respiration, Sensation, Nutrition, Excretion, Reproduction, Growth (MRS NERG) [PG]

3873	An omniscient being couldn't know it was omniscient, as that requires information from beyond its scope of knowledge [PG]