I agree with the general point made here and probably many of the examples. However, I think we need to be aware of a tendency I have noticed in the utiltiarian decision procedure literature to over-emphasise the extent of the overlap between utilitarianism and common sense morality. The obvious practical motivation for this is to make utiltiarianism seem more intuitively palatable, both for others and ourselves. However, this incentive exists, even if it is unjustified by an ultimate utilitarian rationale. It seems like what quick and dirty heuristics or other decision procedures we ought to use is a really difficult empirical question, and that we shouldn’t settle too quickly for what aligns with common sense morality, given the obvious aforementioned bias in play.
E.g. I’ve seen it said a number of times (including by e.g. Parfit I think) that utiltiarianism as applied to decision procedures justifies significant parental partiality, without much in the way of argument. I find this definitely non-obvious, and can see persuasive arguments in the other direction, even at the level of decision procedures.
I agree with the general point made here and probably many of the examples. However, I think we need to be aware of a tendency I have noticed in the utiltiarian decision procedure literature to over-emphasise the extent of the overlap between utilitarianism and common sense morality. The obvious practical motivation for this is to make utiltiarianism seem more intuitively palatable, both for others and ourselves. However, this incentive exists, even if it is unjustified by an ultimate utilitarian rationale. It seems like what quick and dirty heuristics or other decision procedures we ought to use is a really difficult empirical question, and that we shouldn’t settle too quickly for what aligns with common sense morality, given the obvious aforementioned bias in play.
E.g. I’ve seen it said a number of times (including by e.g. Parfit I think) that utiltiarianism as applied to decision procedures justifies significant parental partiality, without much in the way of argument. I find this definitely non-obvious, and can see persuasive arguments in the other direction, even at the level of decision procedures.
Something to be aware of, but great post!