Lara Buchak argues for a version of rank-weighted utilitarianism that assigns greater weight to the interests of the worse off. She argues that our distributive principles should be derived from the preferences of rational individuals behind a veil of ignorance, who ought to be risk-averse. I argue that Buchak’s appeal to the veil of ignorance leads to a particular way of extending rank-weighted utilitarianism to the evaluation of uncertain prospects. This method recommends choices that violate the unanimous preferences of rational individuals and choices that guarantee worse distributions. These results, I suggest, undermine Buchak’s argument for rank-weighted utilitarianism.

中文翻译：

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等级加权的功利主义和无知的面纱

劳拉·布查克 (Lara Buchak) 主张采用等级加权的功利主义版本，该版本更重视弱势群体的利益。她认为，我们的分配原则应该源自无知面纱背后的理性个体的偏好，他们应该是规避风险的。我认为，布恰克对无知面纱的诉求导致了一种将等级加权功利主义扩展到对不确定前景的评估的特殊方式。这种方法推荐违反理性个体一致偏好的选择和保证更差分布的选择。我认为，这些结果削弱了布查克关于等级加权功利主义的论点。