Abstract

The mistake Mill made by confusing what we can desire and what deserves to be desired or must be desired has been discussed extensively in the literature. However, the meta-normative intuition that remains in the background of the argument has been less discussed. This intuition, though, aims in the right direction, as it points at the idea that the desirable emerges from the desirable. My purpose here is to defend this claim by arguing that it provides a way to avoid some of the classical objections to utilitarianism