PHLA11H3 Chapter 5: Classical Utilitarianism
Document Summary
The main idea is that society is rightly ordered, and therefore just, when it s major institutions are arranged so as to achieve the greatest net balance of satisfaction summed over all the individuals belonging to it. The principle of choice for an association of men is interpreted as an extension of the principle of choice for one man. Social justice is the principle of rational prudence applied to an aggregative conception of the welfare of the group. The two main concepts of ethics are those of the right and the good. The good is defined independently from the right, and then the right is defined as that which maximizes the good. It is essential to keep in mind that in a teleological theory the good is defined independently from the right. Second, the theory enables one to judge the goodness of things without referring to what is right.
