[ExI] Morality

Anders Sandberg anders at aleph.se
Fri Jan 7 21:45:31 UTC 2011


BillK wrote:
> I think what unsettles humanity about pushing the fat man in front of
> the trolley is the virtually universal rule 'Thou shalt not kill'
> (without a very very good reason). And also the Golden Rule -- nobody
> wants to actually be the fat man in question.
>   

Plus, it is up close and personal. If you rephrase the example as 
pulling a lever that causes the man to fall down, then many more will 
accept it.

It is hard to say whether the framing effect or the assumption that 
actions will be repeated are the determining factor in people's 
reactions - it could be different from person to person.

> Once the door is opened to intentionally kill one (or many) for the
> greater good, then this will almost certainly be misused by those in
> power to justify killing those they disapprove of. So it is safer to
> forbid it from the beginning, rather than getting into endless
> arguments about when it might be justified. Do we nuke Iran and kill a
> 100,000 to stop a war that would kill many millions?  Just say No.
>   

This is basically rule utilitarianism - act according to rules you think 
will maximize the good on average. A kind of wussy but plausible 
compromise between the duties of deontology (don't do acts you do not 
wish to see turned into general rules) and the expectation maximization 
of consequentialism. It reduces the cognitive overhead by creating 
heuristic rules which are merely instrumental tools for acting better, 
not moral rules in themselves.

-- 
Anders Sandberg,
Future of Humanity Institute
Philosophy Faculty of Oxford University 




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