Thanks for your comment. The comparison to Bleeding Heart Libertarians is good and instructive; thanks for that. Yes, one goal of our paper is to show that utilitarianism as practiced in the real world isn’t about breaking rules and similar. Instead, when you actually apply utilitarianism, you need virtues that most people would feel positively about—like truth-seeking and collaboration. And yes, we do hope that that gives a different and more positive image of utilitarianism.
We also want to give recommendations to people who already believe in utilitarianism inside and outside the EA community, yes.
We are also at the early stages of an empirical project focused on getting a better psychological understanding of these virtues.
Thanks for your comment. The comparison to Bleeding Heart Libertarians is good and instructive; thanks for that. Yes, one goal of our paper is to show that utilitarianism as practiced in the real world isn’t about breaking rules and similar. Instead, when you actually apply utilitarianism, you need virtues that most people would feel positively about—like truth-seeking and collaboration. And yes, we do hope that that gives a different and more positive image of utilitarianism.
We also want to give recommendations to people who already believe in utilitarianism inside and outside the EA community, yes.
We are also at the early stages of an empirical project focused on getting a better psychological understanding of these virtues.