Utility Monster Illustrated

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A standard figure in the analysis of utilitarianism in comic form:




(Hat tip to Mattheus Guttenberg, who oddly interprets the comic to show the impossibility of interpersonal utility comparisons.)

Comments

  1. dkuehn12:39 PM

    Yes. This is why I don't really care about all those interpersonal utility comparison complaints.

    You should only really care about interpersonal utility comparisons if you think there's some value to appeasing Felix.

    Otherwise, who cares?

    Granted - people who also don't worry about interpersonal utility comparisons should be more explicit about what it is they can "prove". Many are explicit about this (http://factsandotherstubbornthings.blogspot.com/2011/10/who-said-it.html), but many aren't.

    ReplyDelete
  2. dkuehn12:39 PM

    btw - google informs me that your page is in Italian, and it prompts me to translate :) I wonder what would happen to the English if I do.

    ReplyDelete
  3. dkuehn12:40 PM

    Meh - it doesn't do anything to the English. But no I know what your title means. I never bothered to look it up before.

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  4. dkuehn12:41 PM

    Which is sad that I didn't know the title (hung up on "Bocca" - I know Verita, because my wife has a little figurine of the statue from her travels.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. gcallah12:44 PM

      The photo is of a gimmicky "mouth of truth" machine in Siena -- you put money in, and the truth about you spits out. The real "mouth of truth" is in Rome from 1st century AD.

      Delete

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