Omg the whole point is that you develop ethics from utilitarian principles so that you don't have to go through that calculation. That ethics system is developed ages ago and we inherit it with our culture, so of course it feels like that. That doesn't mean there isn't anything like utilitarism at the root of it
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Originally Posted by elphenor
I don't think this is true
you first have to have decided that "happiness" or "harm reduction" are valuable
you can't use utilitarianism to tell you that, you simply have to believe it
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That's just like the axioma the theory is built on
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Originally Posted by jwb
why?
It seems like the only thing you could say it's cause it's more fair or something which in itself is a sort of good outcome
Like any of those values if you drill down to the core... Freedom, truth, democracy etc are only valued because they're implicitly associated with the utility they provide
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Thats exactly what I mean