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New page: A '''Utility monster''' is a hypothetical entity used by philosopher Robert Nozick in an argument against Utilitarianism.<ref>Anarchy, State and Utopia. Nozick, Robert.</ref> A Uti...
A '''Utility monster''' is a hypothetical entity used by philosopher [[Robert Nozick]] in an argument against [[Utilitarianism]].<ref>Anarchy, State and Utopia. Nozick, Robert.</ref> A Utility monster is a highly efficient consumer of resources: it gains enormous amount of pleasure from very small quantities of a particular resource. So for example, it may get 1000 times more pleasure out of drinking a sip of wine than a wine lover may get if let loose in a fine winery. As cardinal utilitarianism suggests that we allocate goods and resources so that we maximise the total or average amount of pleasure, given the existence of a utility monster we would be obliged to neglect the needs of human beings in favour of satisfying the monster, perhaps even to the extent of annihilating the human race.
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[[Category:Philosophy]]
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[[Category:Philosophy]]