Monday, June 11, 2007

Wikipedia Scratchpad: Desire Utilitarianism

I have been debating this issue for a while - whether to edit the entry for Desire Utilitarianism that others have started on Wikipedia Scratchpad.

The two arguments against editing it are:

(1) I want others to feel free to make adjustments, which is easier to do if I am not making changes.

(2) Wikipedia does not allow for self-serving work.

The secon argument, at least, can be mitigated by the fact that this is not a formal or official Wikipedia entry. Instead, I have wanted to create a wikipedia-type site where I could explain desire utilitarianism, and this presents an opportunity to do so.

The first argument remains a concern. However, I outweighed that concern with a stronger desire to have a place where people can go where desire utilitarianism is adequately explained.

So, I opted to make some edits.

If anyboy mins or think that this is inappropriate, please let me know.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Alonzo,

I think it is entirely appropriate for you to edit the mini wiki. The Wikia Scratchpad is run by Wikia Inc, a for-profit company that is not affiliated with Wikipedia in any way.

The thing about a wiki is that that contributions encourage others to contribute. An idle wiki discourages readers from checking it (and perhaps editing it) regularly, just as an idle blog discourages readers from coming back.

Alonzo Fyfe said...

Well, then, I hope to make regular contributions to extending the work that you started.

However, I still worry that my participation will discourage others, who may not want to disagree with me.

There should be space for "problems with desire utilitarianism" to deal with issues of internal and external consistency (disputes).