> 4) Many non-utilitarian intuitions just seem to be emotional reactions to particular words in the sentence. We spend lots of time talking as a society about how lots of things are very bad--eg murder. Thus, when utilitarianism asks if murder is sometimes good, based on implausible stipulations that we have trouble imaging, the part of our brain that says "ick murder, that's bad," overpowers reflection about the particular case.
> This leaves the atheist with either some form of Utilitarianism (a fatally flawed philosophy as I have shown here) or nihilism. Most atheists are uncomfortable with nihilism so they end up being forced to cling to a fatally flawed philosophy.
This seems largely to be the case, especially since your (extremely long) article didn't address nihilism. It really should; how do you know that morality exists anymore than as a collective dream?
As a non-utilitarian, I'd love to discuss these subjects with you if you have the time.
> 4) Many non-utilitarian intuitions just seem to be emotional reactions to particular words in the sentence. We spend lots of time talking as a society about how lots of things are very bad--eg murder. Thus, when utilitarianism asks if murder is sometimes good, based on implausible stipulations that we have trouble imaging, the part of our brain that says "ick murder, that's bad," overpowers reflection about the particular case.
That's true, but it also substantiates my point that utilitarianism is for people who are less moral than others - utilitarians reason like people who sustained damage to their ventromedial prefrontal cortex: https://thingstoread.substack.com/p/is-utilitarianism-an-amoral-system
> This leaves the atheist with either some form of Utilitarianism (a fatally flawed philosophy as I have shown here) or nihilism. Most atheists are uncomfortable with nihilism so they end up being forced to cling to a fatally flawed philosophy.
This seems largely to be the case, especially since your (extremely long) article didn't address nihilism. It really should; how do you know that morality exists anymore than as a collective dream?
As a non-utilitarian, I'd love to discuss these subjects with you if you have the time.
Darn. Not sure I can line-by-line this one...