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Critical-Level Utilitarianism and the Population-Ethics DilemmaCharles BlackorbyUniversity of British Columbia (UBC) - Department of Economics; French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) - Research Group in Quantitative Saving (GREQAM) Walter BossertUniversity of Montreal - Department of Economics; Rice University - Department of Economics David J. DonaldsonUniversity of British Columbia (UBC) - Department of Economics February 1997 Discussion Paper No.: 97-06 Abstract: Principles for the social evaluation of states of affairs with different population sizes, such as Classical Utilitarianism, often lead to the repugnant conclusion. Those that avoid it may have other ethically unattractive features. Average Utilitarianism does not lead to the repugnant conclusion but, in some cases, considers the addition of individuals whose lives are below neutrality to a utility-unaffected population to be good. Principles in the Critical-Level Utilitarian (CLU) family with critical levels of utility above neutrality avoid the repugnant conclusion, and their performance is compared with other principles in this paper. In addition, the performance of the Critical-Level Generalized Utilitarian (CLGU) family, a set of principles which generalizes CLU to allow for inequality aversion in well-being, is investigated. We argue that the CLU and CLGU families provide the most satisfactory principles for the moral evaluation of states of affairs with different populations or population sizes.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 34 JEL Classification: D63 Date posted: April 3, 1998Suggested CitationContact Information
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