I think it is worth explaining what Knutsson’s argument in fact is.
His argument is not that the replacement objection against traditional/classical utilitarianism (TU) is plausible. Rather, the argument is that the replacement objection against TU (as well as other consequentialist views it can be applied to, such as certain prioritarian views) is roughly as plausible as the world destruction argument is against negative utilitarianism (NU). And therefore, if one rejects NU and favors TU, or a similarly “replacement vulnerable” view, because of the world destruction argument, one must explain why the replacement argument is significantly less problematic for these other views.
That is, if one rejects such thought experiments in the case of TU and similar views because 1) endorsing or even entertaining such an idea would be sub-optimal in the bigger picture for cooperation reasons, 2) because it would be overconfident to act on it even if one finds the underlying theory to be the most plausible one, 3) because it leaves out “consideration Y”, 4) because it seems like a strawman on closer examination, Knutsson’s point is that one can make similar points in the case of NU and world destruction with roughly equal plausibility.
As Knutsson writes in the abstract:
>The world destruction argument is not a reason to reject negative utilitarianism in favour of these other forms of consequentialism, because there are similar arguments against such theories that are at least as persuasive as the world destruction argument is against negative utilitarianism.
Thanks for posting this, Richard. :-)
I think it is worth explaining what Knutsson’s argument in fact is.
His argument is not that the replacement objection against traditional/classical utilitarianism (TU) is plausible. Rather, the argument is that the replacement objection against TU (as well as other consequentialist views it can be applied to, such as certain prioritarian views) is roughly as plausible as the world destruction argument is against negative utilitarianism (NU). And therefore, if one rejects NU and favors TU, or a similarly “replacement vulnerable” view, because of the world destruction argument, one must explain why the replacement argument is significantly less problematic for these other views.
That is, if one rejects such thought experiments in the case of TU and similar views because 1) endorsing or even entertaining such an idea would be sub-optimal in the bigger picture for cooperation reasons, 2) because it would be overconfident to act on it even if one finds the underlying theory to be the most plausible one, 3) because it leaves out “consideration Y”, 4) because it seems like a strawman on closer examination, Knutsson’s point is that one can make similar points in the case of NU and world destruction with roughly equal plausibility.
As Knutsson writes in the abstract:
>The world destruction argument is not a reason to reject negative utilitarianism in favour of these other forms of consequentialism, because there are similar arguments against such theories that are at least as persuasive as the world destruction argument is against negative utilitarianism.
I agree and didn’t mean to imply that Knutsson endorses the argument in absolute terms; thanks for the clarification.