[Serious] Moral Obligations toward Possible Worlds

[vulcanlogician]

As for the abolition of slavery, nothing to do with enlightenment values whatsoever.  

I disagree here. I'm not saying Enlightenment Ideals™ were wholly responsible for the eradication of slavery. Other factors were involved, like the ones you described. Keep in mind that my notion of moral progress has nothing to do with desert. Metaphysically speaking, you could gauge moral progress in a deterministic world --where moral responsibility is impossible-- by whatever metric you want (total happiness if you want to be a utilitarian). I'm also looking at the world in a New Moorean sense (at goodness simplicita) and judging different worlds from that vantage point.

From that perspective (I want to argue) you could genuinely observe moral progress. One world is better than the other. Good and bad intentions exist (perhaps in equal measure) in both worlds. But the better world is arranged in such a way that bad intentions come to fruition less and good intentions come to fruition more.

I mean, are you totally convinced that there is no such thing as moral progress? If humanity ever turns Earth into a Star Trek-like utopia, would you look at that world and say no moral progress has been made? Because I want to say otherwise.

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Yes, utilitarianism could in theory permit slavery (and that's a problem with the theory). I've always wondered if I could investigate that issue and develop a line of thought that reveals that slavery is in fact not allowed by some variants of utilitarianism. Perhaps an quasi-Epicurean may say "Yes, pleasure is good and suffering is bad. But we prioritize the reduction of pain and suffering. Adding to overall happiness comes second to this." If that was your principle as a utilitarian, would slavery still be permissible?

I am not familiar enough with utilitarian theory to do legit scholarly work on it. But it's something I'm motivated to do. In the end, I may be wrong... and there is no way to find a strong abolitionist notion within any brand of utilitarianism. But it's important to note that slavery as we know it (and have known it historically) is pretty much forbidden by utilitarianism. Because it creates a large amount of suffering and a trivial amount of happiness.