Utilitarianism question

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
1

A while back I read an article about a philosophy similar to utilitarianism, but with a few major changes.

First of all, a moral decision, rather than being the decision that creates the best results, it is the decision that is most likely to have the most positive results.

For example (not mine, but I can’t remember where I saw it):

You see a little girl who looks lost. She tells you she needs a bus ride home, but can’t find her money. You buy her a ticket, and she gets on the bus. It crashes on the way there, and she dies.

According to Utilitarianism, your decision to help her was morally wrong, but according to the philosophy I’m referring to, it wasn’t.

Unfortunately, I can’t remember the name.

Anybody know?

2

Humanitarian?
Cosmopolitan?

I haven’t a clue.

3

Sounds more like a Fate kind of thing , not really everything has to do with the seperate individuals , it’s just the choices they make.

4

I don’t actually believe in fate. It takes too much away from the choices we make. I’m just looking for a philosophy that allows for the results (or intended results) of our actions to have some impact on whether or not it was a moral choice. If I save a man’s life by stealing him a piece of bread when he’s starving, then my action was right, even though stealing in itself is usually considered wrong. At least that’s what I think.

5

Ah, ethics and morality.

My morality:

The outcome of the act in fullest terms–is the only judgment of whether or not that act is “good”.

“Good” is based upon the long term health of the individual, society, species or eco-system.

“Health” is propriety of order as process of change continue.

If there is a “God” which “created” us, when ever we do what is most healthy for the bodies that were “created”–is also doing what those bodies were meant to do, therefor actuating the will of God.

Any “God” which implies or causes any unhealthy or wasteful action upon “creation”–is not the “Creator”. False gods promote holy-wars, animal or human sacrifices, unnatural emotional repression, guilt, etc.

To understand the true will of the “Creator” [or the true will of “nature”] study psychology and physiology. Learn exactly what is most healthy mentally, socially, environmentally and physically. Once perfectly healthy upon self and others in action, one shall become perfectly “holy”.

I am “atheist”, in that I do not believe in intelligent design or an all-mighty “God”, but I do believe that what I’ve said here outlines a code of conduct that undoes all false morality, and could “purify” a “false religion” in many ways…?

Check: “Pragmatism” for a few more ideas about what is truly “right”.

“Right” or “good” is optional, thus neglectable and subjective.

I would call it “healthism”, or something to that effect, if I were to name my world view about the epitome of morality.

What do you all think of that?

6

I think what Dan said is that you must see in your deepest sense of truth to value what is good, in a being beyond the conditionning of men to judge within the meaning of his features to be closest can be to the real creator will

7

Holy Crap.

That smacks of reductionist philosophy!

There philosphy marries with mathematics in the approach that simplifying is an advantageous act - in so stimulating revelations about beauty and truth, which give up mighty fine happy feelings in my head.

Good work.
I would expand upon Ethics & Morality to bring in Fables & Folk Wisdom.
Old Wives Tales are evolutionarily ruddies! They have staying power as people bring up their children. Children who hear this sh1t are more likely to be “prosporous” and yield more puppies to have Old Wives Tales circling inside their spheres of knowledge, as though elementary particles. Knowions : p

And lo! are borne the roots of Morality as we’ve come to classify the “Acts of Decency” - it’s so much to have Knowions a-plenty, than rather to go about the reactions in life that bring them into being!
But then. If we all rushed to and crowded around the aged crone fallen down in the street, we’d stifle her gaspings. The futile old wife

But on a more positive note. My favourite story:

The wind comes up to the sun one afternoon.
The sun smiles at the wind.
The wind tells the sun they are to have a bet.
The wind indicates a man walking up a grassy hill and tells the sun that the challange is to get the man’s coat off.
The sun smiles. And smiles and so the wind goes first.
The wind comes up to the man and blooowsss…
The man feels the breath of the wind cold about his being, pulling his coat tighter around himself.
The wind blows himself quite out, as the man picks himself up and begins again upon the hill.
The sun smiles at the man.
The man relaxes somewhat in his step.
The sun smiles some more at the man.
The man feels as though golden syrup has begun circulating through his system.
He takes off his coat.

Peace

8

no wonder how the world is rude how your story is doll, how your soul who needs to justify the good of what she wants to feel making is a beast in being big balloon with only smelly shit inn, please try to focus on your feeling of not making any when you feel talking about values or its reward receiving the warmth of love, i must fear so much God now seeing better what He is, you are all as animals made of his desire to make, i am the only one made of his desire to be loved, i cannot feel i am if i don’t love not particularly a man it could be anything i could find real interest in it as values good thinking to bring joy every step on earth, in a way i am a lie since you are all the same as you are saying you are god guy, this is why for sure he said once that i am in illusions of feeling god, he might be right only on that, seeing your ways to talk with me i feel how god made me just a fantasy, it is strange of him the depth of cruauty he wanted me to see in drops, God is alone and He is used to be in lies He makes to entertain himself with the void He will be always staying with, the smarter of you are the more like him careless of being in real knowing that you can’t, willing to do whatever he says waiting for the reward he gives you in the illusion of being clever infront of men, aren’t we going to die after all? isn’t God made it for that purpose to you not feeling regrets? nobody is gonna last only He, why bother give for real when there is noone to receive, the problem is my conception i am forced to pain in what God is of satan he made you all

9

TangentSpider,

What you describe is usually referred to as “Act Utilitarianism”. But it’s really only different from normal Utilitarianism in a pretty insignificant way.

There’s a general idea - a very good idea - that you have to go on what you know. It’s all about decisions that, as you say, “seem most likely to be moral”. So if you’re a normal Utilitarian, you take everything you know (and you try to know as much as you can), and predict what seems to be the best outcome, and strive to accomplish that thing. If you are wrong, as with your example of the girl and the bus, you say “oh that sucks, how unfortunate”. You try to see if you could have predicted the outcome, if there was something you overlooked, to make it less likely you make a mistake again. But you don’t feel guilty, because you did the best you could at the time.

There are literally no practicing utilitarians I’ve ever talked to who draw a line between normal Utilitarianism and what you describe.

10

utilitarian as you describe is robot intelligence to keep on doing with things orobtised as him this proove the utility of a machin it is only to serve a will of a being you use this way of thinking to get better your goal with other tools of what you see and can, but in the essence it is the being sense who is ruling all your making even when you create robots it is to serve a deep sense of being, that is why what you just said will not respond of what you felt interest inn, Tangenspider proove what i said better you are in the superficial level to say the sense too far from the depth, but it is always the same sense you are doing to be, your sense is to feel in control of all the scenes that you see as yours adapted to what the sense knows of superior will of his creator for you personnally for all eternity and a will for all humans to be in Him, your way of doing shows that you are not in the superior being Twiffy, spider is more when he felt the urge of saving a soul of struggle regardless to the rules stealing and so on, because his sense of God being is real so he knew that all the words are to help you see the scene closest to the depth in superior being who wants love to be, values are a must to love so when you love you are values more than what anyone could say about

11

So is God a utilitarian? Or does he sometimes choose less overall happiness over more overall happiness?

12

what i ws saying is you think the best of doing always of a deeper sense which is you pushing to say him in all scenes he sees your spirit in, there come your feelings of things, if you feel bad it must be your soul saying something the best is when your profane spirit learn to understand the language of soul translate it to his language made of words, the best is actually the work of this virgian spirit combining the feelings he get to create of it a coherent state of being in truth despite all incoherences and questions with no answers of a reality you don’t feel belong, i know i am describing my path but that is how i knew a depth of thoughts making all the scenes in world, by thinking the depth of me by geting to a sense of means i started to be aware of its correlations to the scenes film, this started to be the easiest part, walking mostly with the means of scenes to get the emotion you want, this is how you start to understand that you are not doing any but a superior is making it all, but your soul does exist in a very concrete and lively feelings of being, it is a little like i said the difference between you and spider, being in your feelings is something good but better is to be in what made your soul moving to push you doing, the utliliy of the soul is to be in god plan or Him, but i insist on staying aware of your soul in a different way, this why it become easier after guessing the bigger maker, you feel released with your feelings of soul willing and not making, and you start to learn to wait and to learn to interact with the maker for your will as well as God wills, interesting hing i liked in myself and learn a lot from it, how i prefer God will to my eager one, i love more in fact bigger intelligence and i saw that i respect it too much that i accpet not willing at all but as long as bigger intelligence i see which it means necessarily to me a deeper truth of good or love,
i am confused in what i see right now as i use to be sure that all my frustrations of not being in what i want were of my duty to learn more of giving to get rid of small giving to truth of big, the strange element introduced to my eyes in truths is the existance of God deepest desire to be in bad, i can see how i ve been trapped to think my will in all of what He does in meaning depth, i think He is sick and He made me not, that is how all started when He introduce in me sickness of feelings i saw are strange to mee, that is how i started to think my soul knowing she is not ill that together we could get rid of ugly desires, so as God is, extremely powerful being for us, extremely intelligent, i could not think anymore that being smart is willing good and love, He has something of hating himself giving him the desires of making uglyness and destroy