This means the actions that maximize wellbeing for all are always equivalent to the actions that improve my own self-interest? How is this not just straightforwardly false? Any time I act against humanity, I am also acting against my own self-interest? Unless you do some funny definition of self-interest, this cannot be true.
E.g. two buttons: red button sends you to hell for a million years, green button sends everyone else in the universe to hell for a million years. Self-interest, if the term means anything at all, requires you to hit the green button, but utilitarianism obviously demands the opposite.
Well do you care about the rest of humanity enough to send yourself to hell? Or adopting policies where you only get sent to hell in universes rather than ? Seems like a smart selfish egoist would send themselves to hell.
“Well do you care about the rest of humanity enough to send yourself to hell?” Nope. Also, even if I did endorse that decision, it probably still wouldn’t be in my own interest. IMO that decision would be a simple mistake with respect to my self-interest. My empathy is not powerful enough for avoiding some guilt to be worth a million years of torture.
“Or adopting policies where you only get sent to hell in X universes rather than Y?” In the hypothetical, there is only one universe and two buttons. Any other universes are figments of my imagination. You’re suggesting I imagine a veil of ignorance, and make make moral decisions from behind the veil of ignorance. But assuming a veil of ignorance assumes utilitarianism = egoism, which is what you’re trying to prove. In reality I have one life and I know where I stand in life. I don’t need to make decisions from behind a veil of ignorance. I can steal knowing it makes me richer, without having to wonder whether I’ll end up the thief or the victim. I know I’m the thief, because I’m the one choosing to steal.
So, it seems you endorse a utility function that puts more weight on others than your actual preferences. Wouldn’t you prefer to endorse a different utility function?
This means the actions that maximize wellbeing for all are always equivalent to the actions that improve my own self-interest? How is this not just straightforwardly false? Any time I act against humanity, I am also acting against my own self-interest? Unless you do some funny definition of self-interest, this cannot be true.
E.g. two buttons: red button sends you to hell for a million years, green button sends everyone else in the universe to hell for a million years. Self-interest, if the term means anything at all, requires you to hit the green button, but utilitarianism obviously demands the opposite.
Well do you care about the rest of humanity enough to send yourself to hell? Or adopting policies where you only get sent to hell in
“Well do you care about the rest of humanity enough to send yourself to hell?” Nope. Also, even if I did endorse that decision, it probably still wouldn’t be in my own interest. IMO that decision would be a simple mistake with respect to my self-interest. My empathy is not powerful enough for avoiding some guilt to be worth a million years of torture.
“Or adopting policies where you only get sent to hell in X universes rather than Y?” In the hypothetical, there is only one universe and two buttons. Any other universes are figments of my imagination. You’re suggesting I imagine a veil of ignorance, and make make moral decisions from behind the veil of ignorance. But assuming a veil of ignorance assumes utilitarianism = egoism, which is what you’re trying to prove. In reality I have one life and I know where I stand in life. I don’t need to make decisions from behind a veil of ignorance. I can steal knowing it makes me richer, without having to wonder whether I’ll end up the thief or the victim. I know I’m the thief, because I’m the one choosing to steal.
So, it seems you endorse a utility function that puts more weight on others than your actual preferences. Wouldn’t you prefer to endorse a different utility function?
I don’t understand what you mean.