Nowhere in this post am I talking about Benthamist altruistic utilitarianism
Ah sorry—it was the link “but that’s a different topic” that I was talking about, I realize I didn’t make that clear. I was expecting the justification for assigning outcomes a utility would link to something about the Von Neumann-Morgenstern axioms, which I think are less controversial than altruistic utilitarianism. But it’s only a minor point.
Ah. It may be a matter of interpretation, but I view that post and this one as more enlightening on the need for expected-utility calculation, even for non-altruists, than the von Neumann-Morgenstern axioms.
Ah sorry—it was the link “but that’s a different topic” that I was talking about, I realize I didn’t make that clear. I was expecting the justification for assigning outcomes a utility would link to something about the Von Neumann-Morgenstern axioms, which I think are less controversial than altruistic utilitarianism. But it’s only a minor point.
Ah. It may be a matter of interpretation, but I view that post and this one as more enlightening on the need for expected-utility calculation, even for non-altruists, than the von Neumann-Morgenstern axioms.