And then the rest of the Repugnant Conclusion—that it’s better to have a billion lives slightly worth celebrating, than a million lives very worth celebrating—is just “repugnant” because of standard scope insensitivity.
I think I’ve come up with a way to test the theory that the Repugnant Conclusion is repugnant because of scope insensitivity.
First we take the moral principle the RC is derived from, the Impersonal Total Principle (ITP); which states that all that matters is the total amount of utility* in the world, factors like how it is distributed and the personal identities of the people who exist are not morally relevant. Then we apply it to situations that involve small numbers of people, ideally one or two. If this principle ceases to generate unpleasant conclusions in these cases then it is likely only repugnant because of scope insensitivity. If it continues to generate unpleasant conclusions then it is likely the moral principle itself is broken, in which case we should discard it and find another one.
As it turns out there is an unpleasant conclusion that the TP generates on a small scale involving only two people. And it’s not just something I personally find unpleasant, it’s something that most people find unpleasant, and which has generated a tremendousamountofliterature in the field of moral philosophy. I am talking, of course, about Replaceability. Most people find the idea that it is morally acceptable to kill (or otherwise inflict a large disutility upon) someone if doing so allows you to create someone whose life will have the same, or slightly more, utility as the remaining lifespan of the previous person, to be totally evil. Prominent philosophers such as Peter Singer have argued against Replaceability.
And I don’t think that the utter horribleness of Replaceability is caused by an aversion to violence, like the Fat Man variant of the Trolley Problem. This is because the intuitions don’t seem to change if we “naturalize” the events (that is, we change the scenario so that the same consequences are caused by natural events that are no one’s fault). If a natural disaster killed someone, and simultaneously made it possible to replace them, it seems like that would be just as bad as if they were deliberately killed and replaced.
Since the Impersonal Total Principle generates repugnant conclusions in both large and small scale scenarios, Repugnant Conclusion’s repugnance is probably not caused by scope insensitivity. The ITC itself is probably broken, we should just throw it out.** Maximizing total utility without regard to any other factors is not what morality is all about.
*Please note that when I refer to “utility” I am not referring to Von Neumann-Morgenstern utility. I am referring to “what utilitarianism seeks to maximize,” i.e positive experiences, happiness, welfare, E-utility, etc.
**Please note that my rejection of the ITC does not mean I endorse the rival Impersonal Average Principle, which is equally problematic.
I think I’ve come up with a way to test the theory that the Repugnant Conclusion is repugnant because of scope insensitivity.
First we take the moral principle the RC is derived from, the Impersonal Total Principle (ITP); which states that all that matters is the total amount of utility* in the world, factors like how it is distributed and the personal identities of the people who exist are not morally relevant. Then we apply it to situations that involve small numbers of people, ideally one or two. If this principle ceases to generate unpleasant conclusions in these cases then it is likely only repugnant because of scope insensitivity. If it continues to generate unpleasant conclusions then it is likely the moral principle itself is broken, in which case we should discard it and find another one.
As it turns out there is an unpleasant conclusion that the TP generates on a small scale involving only two people. And it’s not just something I personally find unpleasant, it’s something that most people find unpleasant, and which has generated a tremendous amount of literature in the field of moral philosophy. I am talking, of course, about Replaceability. Most people find the idea that it is morally acceptable to kill (or otherwise inflict a large disutility upon) someone if doing so allows you to create someone whose life will have the same, or slightly more, utility as the remaining lifespan of the previous person, to be totally evil. Prominent philosophers such as Peter Singer have argued against Replaceability.
And I don’t think that the utter horribleness of Replaceability is caused by an aversion to violence, like the Fat Man variant of the Trolley Problem. This is because the intuitions don’t seem to change if we “naturalize” the events (that is, we change the scenario so that the same consequences are caused by natural events that are no one’s fault). If a natural disaster killed someone, and simultaneously made it possible to replace them, it seems like that would be just as bad as if they were deliberately killed and replaced.
Since the Impersonal Total Principle generates repugnant conclusions in both large and small scale scenarios, Repugnant Conclusion’s repugnance is probably not caused by scope insensitivity. The ITC itself is probably broken, we should just throw it out.** Maximizing total utility without regard to any other factors is not what morality is all about.
*Please note that when I refer to “utility” I am not referring to Von Neumann-Morgenstern utility. I am referring to “what utilitarianism seeks to maximize,” i.e positive experiences, happiness, welfare, E-utility, etc.
**Please note that my rejection of the ITC does not mean I endorse the rival Impersonal Average Principle, which is equally problematic.