Re: What to call "Econ-Libertarians"?
Seth David Schoen (schoen@uclink4.Berkeley.EDU)
22 Oct 1997 15:13:19 GMT
Daniel Burton writes:
>How exactly do these non-subjective utilitarians evaluate consequences?
>As far as I knew up until now utiliarianism was a school of thought
>concerned with maximizing what people want, i.e. subjective.
I think helmet laws might be a good example of this distinction -- they
can be argued to provide a good which outweighs their bad because of all
the huge negative consequences of accidents without helmets.
Nonetheless, someone deciding not to wear a helmet has evaluated it for
himself and come to a decision. I think traditional utilitarianism
says that it's possible for people to make incorrect decisions concerning
themselves, but I'm not positive of this.
Many utilitarians believe in "social utility", which is definitely not
what econo-libertarians believe in, at least not directly.
--
Seth David Schoen L&S '01 (undeclared) / schoen@uclink4.berkeley.edu
Magna dis immortalibus habenda est atque huic ipsi Iovi Statori, antiquissimo
custodi huius urbis, gratia, quod hanc tam taetram, tam horribilem tamque
infestam rei publicae pestem totiens iam effugimus. -- Cicero, in Catilinam I