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I have argued as much many times here and elsewhere. It seems obvious to me that human society was much healthier before the modern era. But of course my understanding of quality of life goes beyond mere material conditions, hence I suppose your disbelief.
I'm well acquainted with the worst impulses of humanity, but this is precisely why I refuse to give it ultimate moral authority over itself. You can point to all the sectarian conflict in the world, it simply doesn't compare to the levels of brutality brought about by modern ideologies since the French Revolution and the advent of social contract theory. We're talking orders of magnitude here.
Total means are just the natural outcome of total ends. Read Hannah Arendt.
What you want is entirely irrelevant in the face of what your longing actually produces.
It's such a frequent critique of the combination of utopia and consequentialism that I feel trite saying it once again, but it is true nonetheless: heaven on earth has infinite utility, therefore all is permitted in the name of its creation. Near infinite levels of suffering are the price of a perfect society free of suffering forever.
As a Traditionalist, I hold that history has no moral arc or direction, so it is easy for me to reject this argument. I see no reason to reject it for someone who believes in progress except for a disbelief in the efficacy of the method.
I prefer Dancers at the End of Time and That Hideous Strength, personally.
We know what mice do at least. Groom themselves and die. I see no reason to ascribe to ourselves a higher nature in this particular matter. I think you only do so in hubris.
It is no question that people want security and comfort. People have a revealed preference for heroin as well, I see no reason to assume that what people want is virtuous.
One of the main lessons that turn a child into an adult is precisely that goodness requires we not always follow our wants.
I think what the evolution of TFR says is that people's revealed preferences are the opposite of this, actually.
Yes. Appeals to our good nature are cope. People do things because they have to, and rationalize them as whims after the fact.
Good art in particular is famously and obviously a byproduct of struggle and constraint.
The virtue required to make good use of wealth can only be learned through scarcity.
Something given has no value.
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