Rule Utilitarianism
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Rule Utilitarianism is a form of Utilitarianism, first suggested by John Stuart Mill, which states that when one considers what to do in a situation, one should consider which rule, rather than which act, that would maximize social utility. Furthermore, Rule Utilitarianism states when one is considering what to do in any given situation, he or she must make their decision based on a set of standards or morals in order to achieve the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people.
However, in most cases Rule Utilitarianism simply collapses into Act Utilitarianism. Take into consideration the rule: "Do not Murder". Given the doctrine of Rule Utilitarianism one must follow this rule. However, there are certain situations in which the rule may be broken. For example, a loved one (or perhaps yourself) comes under attack by a murderer. The right thing to do would be to kill the murderer, because doing so would produce greater utility than following the rule not to murder. This leads to the consideration of the circumstances on if you should or should not follow the rule and thus leads to a collapse into Act Utilitarianism in the following way:
- R1: In situations of type S, do X.
- R2: In situations of type S, do X unless Y produces greater utility.
Some Rule-utilitarians dispute this claim of "collapse" by arguing that rules may be enumerated very specifically in order to avoid this problem, yet to do so would lead to an impossibly large number of specific rules and situations to be aware of and abide by.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- "Extreme and Restricted Utilitarianism" by Smart, J.J.C held in The Victorian Branch of the Australasian Association of Psychology and Philosophy (Ocotber 1955).
