"I believe that there is, from the ethical point of view, no symmetry between suffering and happiness, or between pain and pleasure. Both the greatest happiness principle of the Utilitarians and Kant's principle, "Promote other people's happiness...", seem to me (at least in their formulations) fundamentally wrong in this point, which is, however, not one for rational argument. [...] In my opinion [...] human suffering makes a direct moral appeal for help, while there is no similar call to increase the happiness of a man who is doing well anyway."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies (1952)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Negative_utilitarianism
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Related Quotes
"[F]rom the moral point of view, pain cannot be outweighed by pleasure, and especially not one man's pain by another m…"
"We should realize that from the moral point of view suffering and happiness must not be treated as symmetrical; that …"
"Appealing to his Einstein's] way of expressing himself in theological terms, I said: If God had wanted to put everyth…"
"Scientists try to eliminate their false theories, they try to let them die in their stead. The believer—whether anima…"
"The answer to this problem is: as implied by Hume, we certainly are not justified in reasoning from an instance to th…"
"Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the t…"
"If we are uncritical we shall always find what we want: we shall look for, and find, confirmations, and we shall look…"
"You can choose whatever name you like for the two types of government. I personally call the type of government which…"
"Piecemeal social engineering resembles physical engineering in regarding the ends as beyond the province of technolog…"
"For it was my master who taught me not only how very little I knew but also that any wisdom to which I might ever asp…"