So, utilitarianism isn’t true, it is a matter of taste
I don’t understand how “true” applies to a matter of taste any more than a taste for chocolate is “truer” than any other.
utilitarianism is not required in order to balance some people’s interest against others’.
There are others, but this is the one that seems best to me.
If you have ever purchased a birthday present for, say, your husband instead of feeding the hungry
This is the type of decision we found maddening, which is why we currently have firm charity and non-charity budgets. Before that system I did spend money on non-necessities, and I felt terrible about it. So you’re correct that I have other preferences besides utilitarianism.
I don’t think it’s fair or accurate to say “If you ever spent any resources on anything other than what you say you prefer, it’s not really your preference.” I believe people can prefer multiple things at once. I value the greatest good for the greatest number, and if I could redesign myself as a perfect person, I would always act on that preference. But as a mammal, yes, I also have a drive to care for me and mine more than strangers. When I’ve tried to supress that entirely, I was very unhappy.
I think a pragmatic utilitarian takes into account the fact that we are mammals, and that at some point we’ll probably break down if we don’t satisfy our other preferences a little. I try to balance it at a point where I can sustain what I’m doing for the rest of my life.
I came late to this whole philosophy thing, so it took me a while to find out “utilitarianism” is what people called what I was trying to do. The name isn’t really important to me, so it may be that I’ve been using it wrong or we have different definitions of what counts as real utilitarianism.
I don’t understand how “true” applies to a matter of taste any more than a taste for chocolate is “truer” than any other.
There are others, but this is the one that seems best to me.
This is the type of decision we found maddening, which is why we currently have firm charity and non-charity budgets. Before that system I did spend money on non-necessities, and I felt terrible about it. So you’re correct that I have other preferences besides utilitarianism.
I don’t think it’s fair or accurate to say “If you ever spent any resources on anything other than what you say you prefer, it’s not really your preference.” I believe people can prefer multiple things at once. I value the greatest good for the greatest number, and if I could redesign myself as a perfect person, I would always act on that preference. But as a mammal, yes, I also have a drive to care for me and mine more than strangers. When I’ve tried to supress that entirely, I was very unhappy.
I think a pragmatic utilitarian takes into account the fact that we are mammals, and that at some point we’ll probably break down if we don’t satisfy our other preferences a little. I try to balance it at a point where I can sustain what I’m doing for the rest of my life.
I came late to this whole philosophy thing, so it took me a while to find out “utilitarianism” is what people called what I was trying to do. The name isn’t really important to me, so it may be that I’ve been using it wrong or we have different definitions of what counts as real utilitarianism.