On my naturalist view, the fact that makes (a) but not (b) normatively justifying would be some fact about how the goal we’re discussing at the moment is saving human lives, not saving mosquito lives.
What if you actually should be discussing saving of mosquito lives, but don’t, because humans are dumb?
I take you to mean “what would maximize Luke’s utility function” (knowing that ‘utility function’ is probably just a metaphor when talking about humans) when you say “you actually should...” Of course, my ‘utility function’ is unknown to both of us.
In that case, it would remain true in our hypothetical scenario that I should-HumanLivesAreGood donate to VillageReach (assuming they’re a good charity for saving human lives), while I should-UtilityFunctionLuke donate to SaveTheMosquitos.
(Sorry about formatting; LW comments don’t know how to use underscores, apparently.)
What if you actually should be discussing saving of mosquito lives, but don’t, because humans are dumb?
I think this is a change of subject, but… what do you mean by ‘actually should’?
No idea.
I take you to mean “what would maximize Luke’s utility function” (knowing that ‘utility function’ is probably just a metaphor when talking about humans) when you say “you actually should...” Of course, my ‘utility function’ is unknown to both of us.
In that case, it would remain true in our hypothetical scenario that I should-HumanLivesAreGood donate to VillageReach (assuming they’re a good charity for saving human lives), while I should-UtilityFunctionLuke donate to SaveTheMosquitos.
(Sorry about formatting; LW comments don’t know how to use underscores, apparently.)