ACX
Less Utilitarian Than Thou
Scott Alexander explores the misconception of utilitarianism, arguing that many common political actions are more ethically questionable than his own 'utilitarian' views.
7 min read 970 words
A thread through the archive
moral reasoning
Essays tagged “moral reasoning”. Follow an idea across the archive.
Essays on moral reasoning
6 essaysACX
Highlights From The Comments On The Repugnant Conclusion And WWOTF
Scott Alexander summarizes and responds to comments on his review of 'What We Owe The Future', addressing debates around population ethics, longtermism, and moral philosophy.
38 min read 5,888 words
LW
Tendencies in reflective equilibrium
Scott explores how people's moral intuitions often conflict and can be reconciled through reflective equilibrium, using the example of inconsistent punishment judgments for theft by people of different socioeconomic classes.
9 min read 1,298 words
LW
Scope insensitivity in juries
Scott highlights a study showing juries give harsher penalties for crimes affecting few people versus many, demonstrating the cognitive bias of scope insensitivity.
1 min read 32 words
LW
A Parable On Obsolete Ideologies
Scott uses a thought experiment about hypothetical "reformed" Nazis in post-war Germany to explore whether problematic ideologies can be successfully reformed or whether their symbols and texts inevitably carry harmful baggage.
14 min read 2,071 words
LW
The Trouble With "Good"
Scott explains that while people naturally use emotivism (the 'yay/boo' theory) for moral reasoning, this creates serious problems by lumping everything into 'good' or 'bad' categories, and argues that converting moral debates into specific questions about actions and applying utilitarianism provides a better framework for resolving complicated issues.
13 min read 1,962 words