On 10/20/2011 6:37 PM, nihil0 wrote:
However, this class action argument assumes that the value-density approach is an acceptable way to measure the value in a world. There are a few problems with the value-density approach. First of all, it seems to give up aggregationism (total consequentialism) in favor of average consequentialism. Average consequentialism has the counterintuitive implication that we should kill people who have below- average utility and few friends or loved ones, such as some hermits and homeless people. Secondly, the value-density approach "places ethical significance on the spatiotemporal distribution of value." This is at odds with consequentialism's commitment to impartiality (the idea that equal amounts of value are equally good to promote, no matter who or where the beneficiaries are).
But this kind of consequentialism is already unworkable. Who counts as a beneficiary? a fetus? someone not yet conceived? chimpanzees? dogs? spiders? In practice we value the well-being of some people a lot more than others and we do so for the simple reason that it makes our life better.
Brent
Third, the value-density approach fails to apply to inhomogeneous infinite worlds . . . because value-density is undefined for such worlds." (16)
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