PHIL 1550 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Rule Utilitarianism, Act Utilitarianism, The Dilemma
15 Dec 2017
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Document Summary
Act utilitarianism considers individual acts and their consequences. But certain social rules and practices (exposes) can also produce consequences and affect overall utility. Building upon this fact, rule utilitarianism offers an important alternative to act utilitarianism. Many give up on act utilitarianism because of its difficulties. However, it"s possible to reject act utilitarianism without abandoning all that utilitarianism stands for. Rule utilitarianism gives us a way to do this. Principle of rules - a morally right rule or practice is one that would promote significantly greater overall utility, if widely followed, than if it did not exist. Principle of acts - a morally right act is one that follows a morally right rule or practice. Rules identified as morally right by the principle of rules should be followed except when they come into direct conflict with each other. Act and rule, agree that morality ought to promote overall utility.
