The video below, just under five minutes in length, is worthwhile watching to the end.
Just as Dan Barker in the video believes it is acceptable to rape two million women to save humanity, other utilitarians think likewise. The case reminds me of an example provided by Geoffrey Scarre in his book, Utilitarianism. (Routledge, 1996, p.164):
A tribe believes that the end of the world is nigh unless their god is fed with constant blood sacrifices. This deity happens to be of a sporting turn, and particularly enjoys seeing human beings hunted down by lions. Grimly and regretfully the tribespeople organise a weekly spectacle in a special arena. They know it is a cruel thing that they do, but it is better that some people should die to please the god than that all life should become extinct.
Scarre comments:
The sacrifice… [is] clearly justifiable…. It is a laudable aim to save the world—more laudable even than saving a few individuals, and infinitely more so than enjoying others’ death-agonies. It is not the moral judgement of the tribe that is at fault here, but their empirical beliefs.
One wonders about the mentality of those who would rape two million women, kill six million Jews, or make blood sacrifices to a god, and go to sleep at night believing that they acted morally.
Do read this story Michael – if you don’t already know it.
https://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/dunnweb/rprnts.omelas.pdf
Thank you very much Sarah. I was aware of the parable, and indeed, it was partly due to that parable, that I read Dostoyevsky’s, The Brothers Karamazov, a magnificent work. Utilitarian calculations that allow people to suffer or die and more importantly, morally justify the suffering, are, in my opinion, sickening.
A classic example was discussed by the Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel in his book, Justice: What’s the right thing to do (Allen Lane, 2009). He mentioned the true legal case that involved Ford motorcars and their Pinto car. Ford knew that the car was defective in part and that deaths would arise when the car burst into flames when there was a type of collision. They could have easily corrected it, but they carried out a utilitarian calculation as to how much it would cost to make each of the cars safe in this aspect and compared it to how much compensation they would need to pay out due to the deaths that would arise. An internal memorandum showed that they performed the calculation and worked out that costs due to deaths and other injuries would be $49.5 million whereas the cost of fixing the problem was $137 million. Because it was cheaper to let the people die and be injured than fixing the problem, they took the cheaper option. This is what happens when the utilitarians are allowed to run things.
I feel you are distorting the Utilitarian argument Michael. I will have to collect my thoughts and issue a rebuttal (haha)
In the meantime, here is an essay from one of the brighter Utilitarian economists, Daniel Sanchez…..a couple of bullet quotes.
‘The sound utilitarian does not say the purpose of a moral code should be social utility. But rather the purpose of moral codes are and always have been ultimately social utility. In this way, utilitarianism, strictly speaking, is more about “meta-ethics” than “ethics.”‘
“The role of the utilitarian social philosopher is not to parachute into ethical dilemmas and inform individuals which choice is in their enlightened self-interest. It is to inform individuals in their moments of sober reflection (when they are not caught up in an urgent crisis) which set of general rules is in their enlightened self-interest.[11] If the social philosopher is generally successful, those general rules will become integrated into the prevailing moral code.”
http://mises.org/daily/5683/In-Defense-of-Misess-Utilitarianism
Utopianism is a theological concept and really does not belong in political thought. If you believe that Eden is possible than any sacrafice to create it is worthwhile. Howver, one bumps into the question of do the ends justify the means. In my world Eden is neither real nor desireable so these remain pointless crimes.
There were odd religious movements that claimed that one reached God by violating his commandments. How much of this concept was genuine or concocted by critics of obscure Jewish messianic movements likely will remain a mystery. I never found a single book on the Donmeh in my travels.
[...] The Utilitarian Problem « Under the Ocular TreeIn Utilitarianism on April 28, 2012 at 11:04 AM. The video below, just under … I was aware of the parable, and indeed, it was partly due to that parable, that I read … [...]