Against the no-difference argument

IF 16.4 1区化学 Q1 CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Accounts of Chemical Research Pub Date : 2024-03-25 DOI:10.1093/analys/anad085

A. Elga

引用次数: 0

Abstract

There are 1,000 of us and one victim. We each increase the level at which a ‘discomfort machine’ operates on the victim – leading to great discomfort. Suppose that consecutive levels of the machine are so similar that the victim cannot distinguish them. Have we acted permissibly? According to the ‘no-difference argument’ the answer is ‘yes’ because each of our actions was guaranteed to make the victim no worse off. This argument is of interest because, if it is sound, similar arguments threaten intuitive moral verdicts about many cases in which a large number of individual choices cumulatively make a great difference, while each choice seems to make no difference on its own. But the argument is not sound, as is shown by a simple objection based on a plausible dominance principle – an objection that avoids challenges that have been brought against previous criticisms of the no-difference argument.

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反对无差异论

我们有 1000 人，而受害者只有一人。我们每个人都会提高 "不适机器 "在受害者身上运作的级别，从而导致极大的不适。假设机器连续运作的水平非常相似，以至于受害者无法区分。我们的行为允许吗？根据 "无差别论证"，答案是 "是"，因为我们的每个行为都保证不会让受害者的情况更糟。这个论点很有意思，因为如果它是合理的，那么类似的论点就会对许多情况下的直觉道德判断构成威胁，在这些情况下，大量单独的选择累积起来会产生巨大的差别，而每个选择本身似乎没有差别。但这一论点并不靠谱，一个基于可信的支配原则的简单反对意见就能证明这一点--这一反对意见避免了以往对无差异论点的批评所提出的质疑。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Accounts of Chemical Research 化学-化学综合

CiteScore

31.40

自引率

1.10%

发文量

312

审稿时长

2 months

期刊介绍： Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance. Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.