I look at the most promising putative moral theories. I construct crucial thought experiments in areas where they give conflicting advice. I confront their conflicting advice with my own moral sensitivity, my moral intuition. I take the theory that can best explain the content of my intuitions as gaining inductive support through an inference to the best explanation.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

Categorized in : Giving Advice Support

The perspective that many today are beginning to see as fully realistic is that democracy in our country, and in our part of the world, will suffer the same fate as the Swedish monarchy did before. The democracy is beeing emptied of all power political content at the same time as the forms remain, treated with reverence and preservasion.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

fate perspective country

The democratic thought is based on that 'ordinary people' are suitable to rule themselves.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

democracy ordinary people

Utilitarianism condones killing of innocent human beings, even murder, if it makes the world a better place.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

murder killing world

I have now come to the conclusion (roughly) that capital punishment is defensible, if it can be shown to have a deterrent effect on murder. In that case, a few executions save not only some people from being murdered but also some people from becoming murders.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

punishment becoming people

It is obvious, I think, that national democracy withers. This has to do with globalisation.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

obvious democracy thinking

According to deontology it is wrong to kill an innocent human being, period.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

innocent periods humans

We own ourselves. This is the core of a libertarian theory of rights. But on this theory, while we are at liberty to kill ourselves (regardless of the consequences of others), we are not allowed to kill others, not even if this means that there we be fewer murders in the future, totally speaking.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

liberty rights mean

These theories, deontology, the moral rights theory, and utilitarianism, contradict one another. Moreover, they give conflicting (inconsistent) recommendations. It is hence not possible to hold them together, in a pursuit of moral truth.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

rights together giving

If two norms conflict, if they are mutually inconsistent, then at least one of them must be false.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

norm conflict two

You should not take the content of your intuitive response as evidence until you have submitted your psychological reaction to what I call cognitive psychotherapy. You should do what you can to learn as much as possible about the origin of your reaction.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

reactions psychological should

You are only allowed to treat the content of your intuition as evidence if the intuition stays after you have exposed it to cognitive psychotherapy; in some cases you have to reject it even if it does indeed stay.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

treats intuition doe

Once we realise that utilitarianism comes with the idea of blameworthy rightdoing (such as when you push a big man onto the tracks in order to save five lives) and blameless wrongdoing (such as when you don't push a big man onto the tracks in order to save five lives), then utilitarianism all of a sudden appears to give the right answers.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

men order ideas

It is of note that even if utilitarianism has proved to be superior to deontology and the libertarian moral rights theory in the area of killing, we are not allowed to say that it has been finally vindicated; it has to face other challenges in other areas, in particular in situations of distributive justice.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

rights challenges justice

We can be certain that, if there are conflicting views in different cultures, some of these views must be false. This may help us to transcend our own narrow cultural horizon.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

different views may

Even where people in different cultures agree they may all have gone wrong.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

different may people

There comes a time where next to everyone will resort to techniques that enhance cognitive, mental including emotive, physical, and other capacities. When this has happened, if not before, the ban on doping in sport will have been lifted.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

next technique sports

The possibility to go on indefinitely with our lives may become a reality and it will present us with a temptation.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

temptation may reality

My conjecture is that most people will refuse to let go, even when their lives have become boring (at least in comparisons with possible lives lived by new generations). If this happens, there will eventually be no room for new generations. A kind of collective irrationality will lead to a bleak life for the last generation that decides to stay around. Unless we put and end to the human race (through global warming, for example), before this happens, individual egoism will block the path to a better world.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

block race letting-go

Different areas present us with possibilities to test different theories.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

possibility tests different

I was conscripted to military service, and my gut feeling was to refuse to serve. I did not want to kill other people. This seemed to me wrong, if not in principle, so at least in practice.

Torbjorn Tannsjo

military practice people