
Contents
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1. Introduction 1. Introduction
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2. Individual Lifetime Well-Being 2. Individual Lifetime Well-Being
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3. Population Principles as Social Goodness Relations 3. Population Principles as Social Goodness Relations
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4. Variable-Population Welfarism 4. Variable-Population Welfarism
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5. Anonymous Welfarism 5. Anonymous Welfarism
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6. Same-People Properties 6. Same-People Properties
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7. Variable-Population Properties 7. Variable-Population Properties
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8. Critical-Level Generalized Utilitarianism 8. Critical-Level Generalized Utilitarianism
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9. The Repugnant Conclusion 9. The Repugnant Conclusion
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10. The Sadistic Conclusion 10. The Sadistic Conclusion
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11. Concluding Remarks 11. Concluding Remarks
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Acknowledgments Acknowledgments
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References References
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3 Anonymous Welfarism, Critical-Level Principles, and the Repugnant and Sadistic Conclusions
Get accessWalter Bossert is Full Professor at the Department of Economics, Université de Montréal. Bossert has taught at the University of British Columbia, the University of Waterloo and the University of Nottingham. Most of his research concerns the analysis of links between the social choice theory and ethics, using mathematical techniques. In particular, he is working on welfare indicators, individual and collective decision theory, and the rationality of economic choices. https://en.sceco.umontreal.ca/repertoire-departement/vue/bossert-walter/
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Published:20 April 2022
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Abstract
Welfarist population principles rank alternatives using information regarding the lifetime well-being of those that ever live, disregarding non-welfare information. Standard examples are classical (total) utilitarianism, average utilitarianism, and critical-level utilitarianism. A population principle implies Parfit’s Repugnant Conclusion if every alternative in which each individual’s lifetime well-being exceeds the level that corresponds to a neutral life is ranked as worse than some other alternative with a larger population in which everyone alive has a lifetime well-being above neutrality but arbitrarily close to it. As is well known, total utilitarianism implies the Repugnant Conclusion but average utilitarianism and critical-level utilitarianism with a critical level above neutrality do not. Because critical-level utilitarianism also has several other desirable properties, this class of population principles can be viewed as an attractive candidate for avoiding the Repugnant Conclusion. This chapter discusses some important characteristics of the critical-level (generalized) utilitarian principles and compares them to alternative proposals. In addition to the Repugnant Conclusion, Arrhenius’s Sadistic Conclusion is examined. Critical-level utilitarianism with a critical level above neutrality implies the Sadistic Conclusion. It is illustrated that it is impossible to obtain a population principle that avoids both of these conclusions, provided that some additional plausible requirements are imposed. Thus, the chapter illustrates one of the difficult trade-offs that are common in population ethics.
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