By Simon Knutsson and Magnus Vinding August 22, 2024 1. The core of suffering-focused ethical views In essence, suffering-focused ethical views give a foremost priority to the reduction of suffering.[1] According to such views, there is something especially important or
Answers in population ethics were published long ago
By Simon Knutsson Version from April 15, 2024, posted online April 19, 2024, addition made to acknowledgements June 15, 2024 Comments are very welcome to simonknutsson@gmail.com Summary Readers might have heard a story about population ethics that goes something like
My moral view: Reducing suffering, ‘how to be’ as fundamental to morality, no positive value, cons of grand theory, and more
By Simon Knutsson Published August 23, 2023 Summary I explain parts of my moral view briefly. I also talk about some arguments for and against my view. The basics of my moral view include that one should focus on reducing
Roger Thisdell on undisturbedness, positive experiences, and the hedonic peak
Published February 17, 2023; follow-up added at the end of the text on March 12, 2023 By Simon Knutsson Roger Thisdell is a meditation teacher and was in a master’s programme in Epistemology, Ethics and Philosophy of Mind at The
On the results of Oxford-style effective altruism, existential risk, and longtermism
First published December 29, 2022; minor update January 9, 2023 Draft Simon Knutsson Efforts to improve the world and help others effectively predate and occur outside of what is called ‘effective altruism’, of course. There are older and broader societal
Undisturbedness as the hedonic ceiling
Simon Knutsson Work in progress First published 2 September 2022; last updated 3 June 2023 Comments are very welcome to, for example, simonknutsson@gmail.com Feel free to e-mail me to get the latest version of the draft Abstract I reply to
Pessimism about the value of the future and the welfare of present and future beings based on their acts and traits
Published August 25, 2022; substantial revisions May 16, 2023 Simon Knutsson Work in progress Abstract I give an argument for pessimism about the value of the world, the value of the future, and the welfare of present and future beings.
The consequences of pessimism
Author: Lars Bergström Originally published in 1978 in Swedish Translated by Simon Knutsson Translation published online on July 13, 2022 Nowadays, one can, without major inconvenience, exterminate mankind. According to calculations that appear reliable, we had, for example, already a
Permissible moderate paths to human extinction
Work in progress Simon Knutsson First published May 8, 2022; substantial revisions December 16, 2022; minor revision December 17, 2022 Abstract Consider the view that human extinction would be less bad than continued existence. Or some related views such as
Effective paths to human extinction
By Simon Knutsson Published May 29, 2021; minor updates August 16, 2021 Summary I list activities that could be parts of a path to human extinction. I think the most effective activity is influencing policy. Many policies might matter for