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    A world with a very large number of individuals whose wel... — Carmelics
    Home/Problem of Evil
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    Challenges→Classical utilitarianism is subject to the repugnant conclusion.

    A world with a very large number of individuals whose welfare levels are barely above zero can have a larger sum-total of welfare than a world with a smaller number of very well-off individuals.

    ConsequentialismProblem of Evil
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    Topics

    Problem of EvilConsequentialism

    Key Terms

    Sum-total(as used in calculating overall welfare)
    The final amount you get when you add everything together.
    Utilitarianism(One of Sidgwick's three methods of ethics)
    The view that an individual self-evidently ought to aim at the maximum balance of happiness for all sentient beings present and future, whatever the cost to herself; also called Universalistic Hedonism
    welfare

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    Related propositions within the same area of thought.
    (Critique of Stein's strict health-welfare correlation)
    A subjective notion of well-being that is affected by multiple domains, not health alone.

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    Justice & Punishment2 linked

    Related

    Classical utilitarianism holds that a world is better if it has a larger sum-tot...Classical utilitarianism is subject to the repugnant conclusion.Therefore, classical utilitarianism must count the large, barely-positive-welfar...

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    Classical utilitarianism holds that a world is better if it has a larg...83%Therefore, classical utilitarianism must count the large, barely-posit...82%Starting from an affluent population, adding individuals with positive...77%A sufficiently large population with very low but positive utilities c...75%

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    Parfit (1984) and others argued that classical utilitarianism is subject to the repugnant conclusion: a world with a very large number of individuals whose welfare levels are barely above zero could have a larger sum-total of welfare, and therefore count as better, than a world with a smaller number of very well-off individuals.

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