Comment on Do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?
BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
The answer is yes, with the caveat that the many are not particularly good at figuring out what they need and that they often choose a sub-optimal solution to help a few people that there is some sort of emotional attachment to.
They’re also really bad at understanding their biases in this scenario. They will often say “no” verbally but then make daily decisions that contradict that.
setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 1 week ago
If three people all have different terminal medical conditions, which are currently making their state of life excruciating, and will kill them shortly, and there is one healthy person who can be killed and their organs repurposed to restore quality of life and stop the medical condition to all of those people then utilitarianism says it is moral to do that.
BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
There is a need by the population to be protected against being directly killed to help others.
That question becomes a lot murkier when it isn’t a direct killing, such as the American healthcare system where poor people are just left to die so that doctors can be more quickly available to handle patients who can afford care. That happens daily, and plenty of people are totally okay with it.