Your small aristocracy society would be unlikely to have high average utility, due to declining marginal utility of income. Von Neumann utility is defined in such a way that someone choosing a gamble prefers the gamble with the highest average utility, so in the initial situation someone with an equal probability for all lives would nece…
Your small aristocracy society would be unlikely to have high average utility, due to declining marginal utility of income. Von Neumann utility is defined in such a way that someone choosing a gamble prefers the gamble with the highest average utility, so in the initial situation someone with an equal probability for all lives would necessarily choose the option with the highest average utility.
The hypothetical you are talking about is a short story by Ursula LeGuin, "Those Who Walk Away from Omelas."
Rawls quite explicitly says to maximize the welfare of the worst off person, so I'm not sure of the relevance of your points which imagine him making a different argument than he did.
Your small aristocracy society would be unlikely to have high average utility, due to declining marginal utility of income. Von Neumann utility is defined in such a way that someone choosing a gamble prefers the gamble with the highest average utility, so in the initial situation someone with an equal probability for all lives would necessarily choose the option with the highest average utility.
The hypothetical you are talking about is a short story by Ursula LeGuin, "Those Who Walk Away from Omelas."
Rawls quite explicitly says to maximize the welfare of the worst off person, so I'm not sure of the relevance of your points which imagine him making a different argument than he did.