PHIL 320A Lecture Notes - Lecture 45: Marginal Utility, Egalitarianism
30 Aug 2018
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Third, we have to take responsibility for distinguishing between aid that helps beneficiaries resume meaningful lives and aid that turns people into seekers of aid. Fourth, the world is opaque in morally relevant ways. Finally, we have to understand that when we respect institutions that forbid causing harm, we thereby play a role in our community being a preventer of harm. This chapter examines a well-known argument about a synergy between equal shares and utility, grounded in the idea of diminishing marginal utility. Most philosophers assume equality and efficiency go hand in hand, and that from an impartial perspective this is a reason to favor equality. Nagel says we satisfy more important needs before less important ones. We satisfy more urgent needs first, but the most urgent need is not necessarily most important. Nagel calls utility is more closely related to urgency than to importance. Should not think dmu resolves tension between equality. Dmu does not reconcile egalitarianism and utilitarianism.
