Utilitarian Eschatology
American Philosophical Quarterly 28 (4):339-47 (1991)
| Abstract | Traditional utilitarianism, when applied, implies a surprising prediction about the future, viz., that all experience of pleasure and pain must end once and for all, or infinitely dwindle. Not only is this implication surprising, it should render utilitarianism unacceptable to persons who hold any of the following theses: that evaluative propositions may not imply descriptive, factual propositions; that evaluative propositions may not imply contingent factual propositions about the future; that there will always exist beings who experience pleasure or pain. | |||||||||
| Keywords | Utilitarianism Infinite utility future | |||||||||
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Peter Vallentyne (1993). Utilitarianism and Infinite Utility. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 71 (2):212 – 217.
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Tim Mulgan (2012). The Future of Utilitarianism. In Rationis Defensor.
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