a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment
aeromill  ·  3223 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Repugnant Conclusion

>So "utility" is both "happiness" and "something that's useful towards the end of happiness".

No. Utility is the usefulness in achieving the end. And the end is happiness. And achieving the end well is aggregating a lot of happiness. Therefore high utility is high happiness. For that reason philosophers equate utility with happiness. It's a definition specific to philosophy.

Hopefully that clears things up.