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Full Idea
Utilitarian benevolence involves no particular attachments, and it is immune to the inverse square law.
Clarification
It doesn't fade quickly over a distance, the way gravity does
Gist of Idea
Utilitarian benevolence involves no particular attachments, and is immune to the inverse square law
Source
Bernard Williams (Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy [1985], Ch. 5)
Book Ref
Williams,Bernard: 'Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy' [Fontana 1985], p.81
A Reaction
Nicely put. The point is that the theory is inhuman, but Mill says it tells us what we should do, not what we actually tend to do.
| 3923 | No one would cause pain to a complete stranger who happened to be passing [Hume] |
| 3924 | Nature makes private affections come first, because public concerns are spread too thinly [Hume] |
| 3770 | General happiness is only desirable because individuals desire their own happiness [Mill] |
| 2884 | The morality of slaves is the morality of utility [Nietzsche] |
| 4501 | Utilitarianism criticises the origins of morality, but still believes in it as much as Christians [Nietzsche] |
| 22404 | Any group interested in ethics must surely have a sentiment of generalised benevolence [Smart] |
| 4124 | Utilitarian benevolence involves no particular attachments, and is immune to the inverse square law [Williams,B] |
| 3262 | Utilitarianism is too demanding [Nagel] |