Richard Brandt Act Utilitarianism

A government sets rules and regulations in their country in order to ensure safety for every person’s wellbeing. Speed limits, for example are enforced to prevent fatal accidents. Although some individuals wish to go faster or slower than what the speed limit calls for, the medium makes the majority of individuals satisfied which is the goal of Utilitarianism, to maximize pleasure. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that takes people’s welfare into consideration when out weighing the consequences. It is based on the sum of pleasures while attempting to mitigate. In layman’s terms it tells us what we ought to do to generate the best consequence. Classical Utilitarianism is characterized as being Universalist, consequentialist, and imperialist.

In act utilitarianism, the actions that are going to be produced are focused on a specific situation. The principle of utility for act utilitarianism is an act is right in a particular situation if it produces the greatest amount of utility for all affected by the action. This type of utilitarianism does not have to follow common sense moral principles such as telling the truth or killing innocent people. Suppose you have plans with your significant other and you have promised them but you also have plans with your group of friends. Although your partner will be unhappy in your promise breaking but your friends will be happy. In this case the consequence of breaking the promise is better than keeping it. (Source A) In rule utilitarianism, the moral rightness or wrongness of an action depends on its conformity to an ideal set of rules, general guidelines, following of which one will maximize utility for every affected by the action. A rule utilitarian will not break their promise with their partner because breaking promises would be a violation of moral principle guidelines. Another example would be following the rule that cheating on test is considered wrong according to morality so you do not cheat on any tests. An act utilitarian would not cheat on a test because if they cheat once then they will continue cheating based on their actions. Rule utilitarianism is less plausible because there are conflicting rules, rules in an ideal set might conflict with another. If you make a promise to not tell where a friend is and someone else asks where that friend is, should you keep promise or tell the truth? You can't satisfy one rule without breaking the other. Another issue is the rule worship problem, upholding a rule even though it doesn’t satisfy its intended consequences. For example, you are a doctor who is a rule utilitarian, a women