Tyler Cowen: belief

Transcript context

…Yes, that’s right because we’ll all have to be looking after the preferences of all of those in the past. Anyway, I’m now a hedonistic utilitarian, so on that view, no. The only reason to pay attention to the wishes of the dead is that the living will have more confidence that their wishes will be respected. Referring especially to early 20th-century Vienna, during times of great cultural achievement, are most thinkers utilitarians? I would say no, but I want to hear your view. I haven’t, in fact, thought about Vienna’s heyday. No, certainly, they were not utilitarians, but then, utilitarianism is a relatively new theory. I say, in terms of spreading to non-English-speaking cultures, that’s happened much later, too. It’s not surprising that people were not utilitarians in late 19th-century, early 20th-century Vienna.…

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