What exactly is the difference between act-utilitarianism and rule-utilitarianism? Can rule-utilitarianism succeed where act-utilitarianism fails?
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date published 13/04/2006
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SummaryAccording to the meaning we give to ‘actions’, we get two different theories under Utilitarianism. And there is a great debate between those two schools of utilitarianism about how exactly the individual utilitarian should make their moral decisions.
The choice for the individual is between the principles of act-utilitarianism, which tells that the rightness or wrongness of a single action is to be judged by the action's consequences, and those of rule-utilitarianism, which tells that the action should be judged by a set of established rules, which are designed to produce the best consequences.
In this essay I will first highlight the differences between act- and rule-utilitarianism, defining those two theories, before showing how they differ; then I will try to identify if rule utilitarianism can succeed where act- utilitarianism failed, identifying objections made to each of them
The choice for the individual is between the principles of act-utilitarianism, which tells that the rightness or wrongness of a single action is to be judged by the action's consequences, and those of rule-utilitarianism, which tells that the action should be judged by a set of established rules, which are designed to produce the best consequences.
In this essay I will first highlight the differences between act- and rule-utilitarianism, defining those two theories, before showing how they differ; then I will try to identify if rule utilitarianism can succeed where act- utilitarianism failed, identifying objections made to each of them
Table of Contents
- Utilitarianism: two different theories. Act-utilitarianism and rule-utilitarianism
- Differences of aplications in both cases
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