Morality is about fair cooperation, not maximizing welfare.

Evidence

In moral philosophy, the standard theory is utilitarianism, the doctrine according to which morality aims at maximizing the welfare of the greatest number of people. In the last ten years, a range of works have consistently demonstrated that humans are not utilitarian (a point noted by Atran and Kirkby, Hinzen, & Mikhail [Kirkby et al.]): They prefer a society that is less efficient and poorer but that treats everyone in a fairer way (Mitchell et al. 1993); they refuse to sacrifice one life to save many (Cushman et al. 2010; Mikhail 2007); they refuse harsh punishment even if it provides benefits (Baron & Ritov 1993; Carlsmith et al. 2002; Sunstein et al. 2000); and they don’t see themselves as having the duty to share part of their resources with others in need even when this would benefit society (Singer 1972; Unger 1996). … A more parsimonious way to explain this consistent departure from consequentialism, though, is to abandon the idea that morality is about maximizing the welfare of the society in favor of the view that it is about the impartial distribution of the benefits of cooperation. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 670

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s framework — connects to Baumard et al.’s partner-choice model of religion and morality being used to analyze Father Rodrigues. — connects to: Fairness in cooperation requires outside options, not contribution. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality: The…, 44; Morality requires mutual advantage, not strict accounting of reciprocated acts. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality: The…, 214
• DEEPTHINKING: The empirical demolition of utilitarianism in favor of fairness as the ultimate moral principle is the kind of dense, paradigm-shifting claim the reader’s analytical work rests on.

Related

• Morality evolved as a propensity for fair cost-benefit sharing among cooperators. (similarity 0.89)
• Morality evolves from individual partner-choice competition, not group selection. (similarity 0.87)
• Cooperation and morality are distinct categories. (similarity 0.87)
• Morality may have evolved via partner choice over partner control (similarity 0.86)
• Morality evolved because fair partners were preferred in cooperative interactions (similarity 0.86)
• Fairness rests on impartiality, not mutualistic cooperation. (similarity 0.85)
• Fairness is self-interested because stingy partners get abandoned. (similarity 0.85)
• Morality extends beyond fairness among strangers to relational obligations (similarity 0.85)
• Morality evolves in two steps, from selfish reciprocity to intrinsic fairness. (similarity 0.85)
• Morality is an evolved sense of fairness, not a late intellectual achievement (similarity 0.85)
• Morality requires mutual advantage, not strict accounting of reciprocated acts. (similarity 0.85)
• Fairness is not reducible to mutualistic partner choice. (similarity 0.85)
• Partner-choice cooperation theory does not explain the intrinsic moral sense. (similarity 0.84)
• A preference for fairness can directly favor equalitarianism in cooperation. (similarity 0.84)
• Partner choice predicts fair cooperation while group selection predicts utilitarian cooperation. (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• Morality requires mutual advantage, not strict accounting of reciprocated acts. #corroborates (0.80) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 214
• Fairness in cooperation requires outside options, not contribution. #expands (0.75) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 44