Member Of Species

@sarahdoingthing I realized only recently that utilitarianism does not allow supererogation; everything not compulsory is forbidden.

@Meaningness @sarahdoingthing from social strategies of the form "if you don't do the strictly best thing, you should feel terrible".

@MemberOfSpecies Agreed, but let me see if I can steelman your objection further… Separate measure of goodness from threshold of adequacy.

@Meaningness Yes, that sounds right, and it seems to me "adequacy" applies on the same level as "praiseworthy" or "blameworthy".

@MemberOfSpecies The importance of supererogation is in creating a zone of freedom between compulsory and forbidden.

@Meaningness Intuitions around "compulsory"/"forbidden" come from conflict between agents. The words seem misleading applied to theories.

@MemberOfSpecies Well, you’d probably agree they are not misleading in a deontological framework? (Not that I’m advocating deontology, but)

@MemberOfSpecies An underlying question is “how ethical should I be,” which is pressing for many people, >