Gaza death toll rises as Israel hits a disability shelter

[Spider]

[Spider]

[John Galt]

[exploited]

Utilitarianism becomes useful when you are choosing between two bad decisions, and one of those decisions will prevent the other from occurring. You quantify the benefits versus costs, and compare.

Torture for all eternity: extreme pain that never ends, payoff is to avoid a hangnail.

Hangnail: little pain that ends, benefit is no eternal torture.

Obviously the more utilitarian choice is for everyone to get a hangnail, because the costs are minor and distributed, whereas the torture's cost is major and concentrated. Further, choosing eternal torture doesn't end hangnails, all it does is ensure that not everyone will get one. So the torture is permanent and never-ending, whereas choosing the hangnail will result in temporary consequences that can be fixed.

What a stupid example.

[The Comrade]

guys it's not utilitarianism because spider doesn't like the word, it's just the exact tenet of utilitarianism.

how do you f**k goofs not understand that?

[Philly]

[Spider]

[John Galt]

[exploited]

Of course it can justify anything. So can any human being with virtually any belief system outside of pacifism. And even that can justify doing nothing in the face of evil.

Cost vs. benefit analysis has it's uses nonetheless. Obviously every person has a different value system, so they will put more weight on certain values than others. But that doesn't take away from the utility of utilitarianism.

It's as if you guys want us to present a philosophy that will always result in optimal decisions. Nonsense. Utilitarianism, like democracy, is the best of the worst.

[Spider]