Every city in ancient Greece had its own model of eudaemonia, translated as both “human flourishing” and “the good life.” The point was that society was pointed toward an apex of pleasurable existence, like an optimization of common sense. Now we have no such sane thing. Instead we have utilitarianism, which is basically a statistical [...]
Posts Tagged ‘utilitarianism’
Return to beauty
Our society has focused on utilitarian aspects for too long: what the average person wants, how to compromise and get along, what will not offend anyone, what one size might fit all, and what sort of standard allows the average person to succeed. The result is that we have forgotten beauty. Unlike function, beauty does [...]
Utopia self-destructing
Those who want Utopia are talking about intermediate results, not end results. “I don’t want anyone to die, or any wars to occur,” presupposes that all people are rational and thus both sides can agree to argue their cases rationally. It also presupposes that rationality should decide the issue. If two populations both need the [...]
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On a philosophical level, before we even get to any practical implications, I object to the idea of equality. Equality presupposes a universal state in which abstract objects are equal like numbers, which being purely abstract can of course be equal. We can talk safely about 4×3 being equal to 12, but if we are [...]
