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Self Torture and Group Beneficence

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Abstract

Moral puzzles about actions which bring about very small or what are said to be imperceptible harms or benefits for each of a large number of people are well known. Less well known is an argument by Warren Quinn that standard theories of rationality can lead an agent to end up torturing himself or herself in a completely foreseeable way, and that this shows that standard theories of rationality need to be revised. We show where Quinn's argument goes wrong, and apply this to the moral puzzles.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Southern California, 3709 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA, 90089-0451, U.S.A

    Frank Arntzenius & David McCARTHY

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  1. Frank Arntzenius
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  2. David McCARTHY
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Arntzenius, F., McCARTHY, D. Self Torture and Group Beneficence. Erkenntnis 47, 129–144 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005376607563

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005376607563

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