I think this is a reasonable response, but Cowen did anticipate the “slavery is immoral” response, and is right that this wouldn’t be a utilitarian response. You can fix that since there is an easily drawn line from utilitarianism to this response, but I think Cowen would respond that in this scenario we both wouldn’t and shouldn’t bother to do such fine reasoning and just accept our partialities. He does make a similar statement during the Q&A.
I’d contend that this an example of mixing practical considerations with philosophical considerations. Of course we wouldn’t stop during an invasion of little green men who are killing and enslaving humans and wonder.. “would it be better for them to win?” If you did stop to wonder, there might be many good reasons to say no, but if you’re asking a question of whether you’d stop and ask a question, it’s not a philosophical question anymore, or at least not a thought experiment. Timing is practical not theoretical.
If it was really all about partialities, and not practical, it wouldn’t matter what side we were on. If we showed up on another planet, and could enslave/exterminate a bunch of little green men, should we stop to think about it before we did? Of course we should. And while maybe you can concoct a scenario in which it’s kill or be killed, there would be little question about the necessity to be certain that it wasn’t an option to simply turn around and go the other way.
I think this is a reasonable response, but Cowen did anticipate the “slavery is immoral” response, and is right that this wouldn’t be a utilitarian response. You can fix that since there is an easily drawn line from utilitarianism to this response, but I think Cowen would respond that in this scenario we both wouldn’t and shouldn’t bother to do such fine reasoning and just accept our partialities. He does make a similar statement during the Q&A.
I’d contend that this an example of mixing practical considerations with philosophical considerations. Of course we wouldn’t stop during an invasion of little green men who are killing and enslaving humans and wonder.. “would it be better for them to win?” If you did stop to wonder, there might be many good reasons to say no, but if you’re asking a question of whether you’d stop and ask a question, it’s not a philosophical question anymore, or at least not a thought experiment. Timing is practical not theoretical.
If it was really all about partialities, and not practical, it wouldn’t matter what side we were on. If we showed up on another planet, and could enslave/exterminate a bunch of little green men, should we stop to think about it before we did? Of course we should. And while maybe you can concoct a scenario in which it’s kill or be killed, there would be little question about the necessity to be certain that it wasn’t an option to simply turn around and go the other way.