Does it then follow that the Utilitarian principle of Benefit Maximization is out to lunch? The greatest good for the greatest number would seem to require some measure of pain and pleasure in the choice of maxims where the personal utility of one individual may justifiably be trumped by the "average utility" of the population in question. As such, my "maximum suffering" is nowhere near equivalent to the suffering of millions of my fellows, and, hence, I may justifiably be sacrificed to the good of the multitude. Or are we to interpret Lewis's words in some "literary" manner which, naturally, would escape me? Last week I told my maid I wouldn't be paying her because I had decided to send her salary to the "Free Tibet" league. Imagine, she was so indignant! You just can't get good moral help these days. Walter O. Bentham Chair in Arithmetic and Moral Philosophy Outremont Secretarial College Outremont, QC Quoting Eric Yost <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx>: > > Consider this quote: > > ?There is no such thing as a sum of suffering, for > no one suffers it. When we have reached the > maximum that a single person can suffer . . . we > have reached all the suffering there can be in the > universe. The addition of a million fellow > sufferers adds no more pain.? > > [C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, Simon & > Schuster, NY:1996, p. 103] > > > In one way, the statement is persuasive. You > suffer. I suffer. They suffer. It doesn't add up. > Suffering is personal and cannot be experienced > collectively. > > On the other hand, "the sum of suffering," as an > imaginative construct -- never felt, but vaguely > imagined -- seems real enough. It's the kind of > thought that makes us shudder and run for cover. > Darfur. Dachau. Atrocities we briefly hold in our > minds before sipping our coffee and turning the page. > > I wish I were convinced by Lewis' consolation. > Some people suffer so much more than I do; others > so much less. "The maximum that a single person > can suffer ... can I even imagine that? Failing > that capacity, has Lewis offered any consolation > at all? > > Eric > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, > digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html > ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html