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anon19895 t1_jcgfg41 wrote

Can someone please explain this part, it doesn't make any sense to me:

> I wouldn't take the course. If you gave me the money, I would in fact keep it for myself... I don't see how it would be relevant for a Rule Utilitarian. Your giving me the money would be part of the best possible combination of everyone's acts no matter whether I would take the course. What should matter to you is that I could do so – not whether I would.

Rule Utilitarianism seeks to act in such a way that utility will be maximized if everyone acted in the same way.

"Give $10 to someone if it will make them an effective altruist" makes for a utility-maximizing rule.

"Give $10 to someone even if there is a negligible chance of them becoming an effective altruist" does not make for a utility-maximizing rule.

What rule exactly is the mugger proposing that requires Bentham to give him $10? "Give $10 to anyone who could become an effective altruist, even if they just told you they won't"? That hardly sounds like a utility-maximizing rule.

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