Welcome to the forum Tim! You seem to have some very interesting viewpoints and seem an intelligent guy, so Im sure you'll be fine here on the forums. In regards to Utilitarianism I have some sympathy with it's position, but I feel it's important to point out as Nietzsche did that happiness is not always what we strive for 'Man does not strive after happiness; only the Englishman does that.'. I wondering whether your familiar with modern day Utilitarian Peter Singer, if your not Im sure his book 'Pratical Ethics' would be of much interest to you!

Welcome and hope that you enjoy your stay!

Well, utilitarianism has a theory about punishment (and reward). How do you think that theory jibes with your views about free will? I ask, since you mention that you are especially interested in both issues.

Welcome to Philforum!
Most of the discussions here are quite lively, and generally made without rancor and in a civil manner as befits the name of the forum. Everyone shrugs off Utilitarianism and finds all sorts of theoretical arguments to prove it wrong, but in practice everyone seems to follow it.
Regards,
John

I think the 'thankyou' function in this forum looks rather cool.

I'm not sure how reward and punishment in the context of utilitarianism is relevant to determinism (note if I somehow made it unclear, I'm a determinist, and as an utilitarian reward and punishment are clearly justified to the extent that they are the best way to achieve their goals, and as a determinist I think they might change behavior).

I'm now 24, which is old enough to look back fondly with nostalgia to when I was 18 and 19 and enthusiastic about Nietzsche, and the concept of the ubermensch, and I still understand the logic of the argument. However in the introduction to A Theory of Justice (this introduction is the only Rawls I've read) Rawls argued that really Nietzsche and utilitarianism were fundamentally similar because they both involved optimizing something as the goal.

So perhaps a good way to think about utilitarianism is that it is fundamentally an optimization process, where you fiddle with the parameters and weightings, to decide just what is being optimized. And clearly classical hedonism doesn't provide a good 'thing to be optimized'.

This is why I find myself fascinated by what I understand to be Singer's satisfaction utilitarianism, because it provides something that works far more often as a usable 'thing to be optimized'.

Anyways I am familiar with Singer, although half from a couple of anthologized essays + the wikipedia page, and haven't read any of his books.

It is a pleasure to meet you and well wishes to you that you find everything you seek. Cheers!

Thankyou, and I like your signature

Welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy your stay!

Welcome to the forums Tim!

Hey tim, you know you are not allowed on this forum? It's only for those without an education. I'm lookin' forward to some discussions with you. Enjoy the forums.