Thin Utilitarianism

Thin utilitarianism, as discussed by Holden Karnofsky, is a concept where morality is based on the principle of generating the greatest good for the greatest number of people. This idea is compared favorably to a moral system that relies on moment-to-moment subjective decisions, which can be heavily influenced by contemporary biases. Thin utilitarianism aims to provide a more stable and universally applicable framework by invoking simple, general principles of morality.

Karnofsky, however, critiques a related concept known as sentientism. Sentientism holds that entities capable of experiencing pleasure or suffering should be morally considered equally. Karnofsky suggests that while the idea appears compelling, it introduces several practical and philosophical dilemmas, such as equating the moral worth of vastly different beings solely based on their capacity for pain and pleasure, regardless of other factors like their distance from us in time or space, their species, or our personal relationship with them. He notes that these complexities make the concept challenging to apply consistently without running into paradoxes and conflicts 1 .