Hmm, we might have different experiences of how the word utilitarianism is used in ethics. While your definition is adjacent to how I see it used, it is missing an important subset of moral views that I see as quite central to the term. As an example of this, see Sam Harris’ Moral Landscape, which argues for utilitarianism, but for a version that seems to not align with your critique/definition.
But arguing over definitions is a lot less exciting, and I think we both agree that this is a common error mode in ethics. So let’s maybe table this for now.
Hmm, we might have different experiences of how the word utilitarianism is used in ethics. While your definition is adjacent to how I see it used, it is missing an important subset of moral views that I see as quite central to the term. As an example of this, see Sam Harris’ Moral Landscape, which argues for utilitarianism, but for a version that seems to not align with your critique/definition.
But arguing over definitions is a lot less exciting, and I think we both agree that this is a common error mode in ethics. So let’s maybe table this for now.