Philosophy, et cetera 2008-05-20

The Question of Conservatism: Is Value Fungible?

A common objection to utilitarianism is that it treats people as mere value-receptacles. I never thought this objection made any sense, as explained in the linked post. But G.A. Cohen does a wonderful job (in his 'A truth in conservatism') of clarifying this in terms of fungibility. He writes:The conservative propensity is to conserve, to not destroy, and, therefore, to not replace, even (within limits) by something more valuable... Conservatism is an expensive taste, because conservatives sacrifice value in order not to sacrifice things that have value.We all have a bias towards our actual loved ones, and so would not wish for a world in which we somehow had even better relationships with completely different people. I figure that just goes to show that love and personal attachments can distort our preferences in various (fortunate, even if not strictly rational) ...

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