Maximizing benefit to society is the ultimate goal of all morality

About

"Maximizing benefit to society is the ultimate goal of all morality" is a claim about the nature of morality.

It is explicitly rejected by many people, yet all arguments for other moral values ultimately come down to some implied benefit or harm to society of holding (or not holding) that value.

Furthermore, if we adopt ultimate moral values which conflict with each other (e.g. Moral System A says "gostaks must never distim doshes" and Moral System B says "gostaks must always distim doshes"), then there is no way to resolve the conflict short of a contest of strength, which would be harmful.

If there is no larger reason to adopt a moral system, and adopting one without such reason can be harmful, then it seems also inescapable that groundless moral systems are themselves immoral (in the larger ethical sense).

Conclusions

• This statement needs to be subjected to structured debate.
• For now, though, it seems to be inescapably true.