Utilitarianism: the greatest good
Utilitarians judge actions entirely by their results: the right choice is the one that produces the most overall well-being.
The principle of utility
Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill held that an action is right to the extent it tends to promote happiness and wrong to the extent it produces the reverse. Everyone's well-being counts, and counts equally. This impartiality made utilitarianism a reforming force, behind arguments against cruel punishment, for animal welfare, and for wider social reform.
Act and rule utilitarianism
Act utilitarians evaluate each individual action by its consequences. Rule utilitarians evaluate general rules instead, and ask which rules, if widely followed, would produce the best outcomes. A rule like 'keep promises' might be justified even when breaking one promise would do slightly more good, because a world of reliable promises is better overall.
Worked example: a hard case
A surgeon has five patients who will die without organ transplants and one healthy visitor whose organs match. A naive act-utilitarian calculation seems to favour sacrificing the visitor. Nearly everyone judges this monstrous. Critics say the case shows utilitarianism ignores rights; defenders reply that a practice of such killings would destroy trust in medicine and do far more harm.
Flashcard
The right act maximises overall well-being
Check your understanding
A city must choose between a park used by thousands and a private garden for a few residents. Which approach chooses by asking which option produces more total well-being?