Single Idea 24106

[catalogued under 23. Ethics / E. Utilitarianism / 1. Utilitarianism]

Full Idea

All this chat about 'utility' already presupposes that what is useful to people has been defined: in other words, useful for what! i.e. the people's purposes are already taken for granted.

Gist of Idea

Talk of 'utility' presupposes that what is useful to people has been defined

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (Unpublished Notebooks 1882-84 [1883], 7[030])

Book Reference

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Fragments from the period of 'Zarathustra' (v 14)', ed/tr. Loeb/Tinsley [Stanford 2019], p.225


A Reaction

When they stopped talking about utility they talked instead about 'benefit', but the same objection applies. This is the problem of paternalism in Utilitarianism, which leads to Preference Utilitarianism, which probably doesn't help.