It sounds like “decision theoretic utilitarianism” was something invented here.
I think hybrid approaches to ethics have more to offer than purist approaches..and also that it is assists communication to label them as such.
Edit:
Actually , it’s worse than that. As Smiffnoy correctly states, maximising your personal utility without regard to anybody else isn’t an ethical theory at all, so it continues the confusion to label it as such.
Actually , it’s worse than that. As Smiffnoy correctly states, maximising your personal utility without regard to anybody else isn’t an ethical theory at all, so it continues the confusion to label it as such.
That only describes a solipsist or sociopath’s utility function. All things being equal, I would like for you to be happy, strange person on the Internet who is reading this. Maximizing my own utility function means preferring outcomes where everyone is happy, because I value those outcomes.
Also Smiffnoy seems to ignore or be ignorant of game theory and Nash equilibria, which shows that under the right conditions purely selfish people acting rationally ought to cooperate to create outcomes that are the best achievable for everyone. (Which far from being an ivory tower theory, it describes modern capitalist society in a nutshell.)
There’s your problem. We don’t say that two things are the same if they happen to coincide under exceptional circumstances, we say they are the same if they coincide under every possible circumstance.
Ethical utilitarianism and utility based decision theory don’t coincide when someone is only a little more altruistic than a sociopath. Utilitarianism is notorious for being very demanding, so having a personal UF that coincides with the aggregate used by utilitarianism requires Ghandi level altruism., and is therefore improbable.
Likewise, decision theory can imply a CC equilibrium, but does not do so in every case.
It sounds like “decision theoretic utilitarianism” was something invented here.
I think hybrid approaches to ethics have more to offer than purist approaches..and also that it is assists communication to label them as such.
Edit:
Actually , it’s worse than that. As Smiffnoy correctly states, maximising your personal utility without regard to anybody else isn’t an ethical theory at all, so it continues the confusion to label it as such.
That only describes a solipsist or sociopath’s utility function. All things being equal, I would like for you to be happy, strange person on the Internet who is reading this. Maximizing my own utility function means preferring outcomes where everyone is happy, because I value those outcomes.
Also Smiffnoy seems to ignore or be ignorant of game theory and Nash equilibria, which shows that under the right conditions purely selfish people acting rationally ought to cooperate to create outcomes that are the best achievable for everyone. (Which far from being an ivory tower theory, it describes modern capitalist society in a nutshell.)
There’s your problem. We don’t say that two things are the same if they happen to coincide under exceptional circumstances, we say they are the same if they coincide under every possible circumstance.
Ethical utilitarianism and utility based decision theory don’t coincide when someone is only a little more altruistic than a sociopath. Utilitarianism is notorious for being very demanding, so having a personal UF that coincides with the aggregate used by utilitarianism requires Ghandi level altruism., and is therefore improbable.
Likewise, decision theory can imply a CC equilibrium, but does not do so in every case.