“Paras 7.2 and 7.3 (the slavery and gladiator questions) left me with an odd impression. The “test” you propose in both cases is more or less the same as Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance. So at that point I was wondering, if you apply Rawls’ procedure to determine what is a preferable social contract, perhaps you’re a Rawlsian more than you’re a consequentialist. :) BTW, are you familiar with Rawls’ objections to (classical) utilitarianism?”
I can’t speak for Yvain but as someone who fully agreed with his use of that test, I would describe myself as both a Rawlsian (in the sense of liking the “veil of ignorance” concept) and a Utilitarian. I don’t really see any conflict between the two.
I think maybe the difference between my view and that of Rawls is that I apply something like the Hedonic Treadmill fully (despite being a Preference Utilitarian), which essentially leads to Yvain’s responses.
...Actually I suppose I practically define the amount of Utility in a world by whether it would be better to live there, so maybe it would in fact be better to describe me as a Rawslian. I still prefer to think of myself as a Utilitarian with a Rawlsian basis for my utility function, though (essentially I define the amount of utility in a world as “how desirable it would be to be born as a random person in that world).
I think it’s that Utilitarianism sounds easier to use as a heuristic for decisions, whereas calling yourself a Rawlsian requires you to go one step further back every time you analyze a thought experiment.
“Paras 7.2 and 7.3 (the slavery and gladiator questions) left me with an odd impression. The “test” you propose in both cases is more or less the same as Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance. So at that point I was wondering, if you apply Rawls’ procedure to determine what is a preferable social contract, perhaps you’re a Rawlsian more than you’re a consequentialist. :) BTW, are you familiar with Rawls’ objections to (classical) utilitarianism?”
I can’t speak for Yvain but as someone who fully agreed with his use of that test, I would describe myself as both a Rawlsian (in the sense of liking the “veil of ignorance” concept) and a Utilitarian. I don’t really see any conflict between the two. I think maybe the difference between my view and that of Rawls is that I apply something like the Hedonic Treadmill fully (despite being a Preference Utilitarian), which essentially leads to Yvain’s responses.
...Actually I suppose I practically define the amount of Utility in a world by whether it would be better to live there, so maybe it would in fact be better to describe me as a Rawslian. I still prefer to think of myself as a Utilitarian with a Rawlsian basis for my utility function, though (essentially I define the amount of utility in a world as “how desirable it would be to be born as a random person in that world). I think it’s that Utilitarianism sounds easier to use as a heuristic for decisions, whereas calling yourself a Rawlsian requires you to go one step further back every time you analyze a thought experiment.
This later piece is perhaps relevant.