Utilitarianism

Right action maximizes well-being (utility) of all affected. Bentham's formula: morally right action produces greatest happiness for greatest number. Calculate: each person's pleasure/pain; sum; choose action with highest net positive. Key features: (1) Consequentialist (outcomes matter). (2) Universalist (everyone counted). (3) Welfare-focused (happiness is goal).

Act utilitarianism: each action evaluated separately by its specific consequences. Rule utilitarianism: actions judged by rules; rules selected to maximize utility overall. Rule version handles common objections better — e.g., promise-keeping rule maximizes general utility even if breaking specific promise might give more utility in one case. Both forms have advocates and critics.

Bentham: pleasure all that matters; can be quantified; "pushpin (game) is as good as poetry" (no quality difference). Mill: distinguished higher pleasures (intellectual, moral) from lower (physical) — quality matters too. Bentham more egalitarian about pleasures; Mill more elite. Mill: "It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied."

Famous thought experiment testing utilitarianism. Trolley about to kill 5; you can divert it to kill 1 instead. Utilitarianism: divert (5 > 1). But: many feel pulling lever is morally different from not. Variations: pushing person off bridge to stop trolley (5 saved) — most refuse, even if numerically same. Suggests: deontological intuitions resist pure consequentialism.

(1) Justice: could justify horrors (slavery, organ harvest of innocent) for greater good. (2) Personal integrity (Bernard Williams): demands you abandon personal projects for utility maximization. (3) Quantification: can't really sum happiness across people. (4) Demandingness: requires constant utility maximization. (5) Future generations: how to weigh? (6) Animals: count their utility?

Robert Nozick's objection. Hypothetical being that gets enormous pleasure from things — much more than ordinary people. Utilitarianism: should give that being all resources (maximizes total utility). Counterintuitive — sacrificing many for one. Shows utilitarianism's unsettling implications. Doesn't refute but raises problems.

Multiple ways. (1) Rule utilitarianism: rules against horrors maximize utility long-run. (2) Indirect utilitarianism: rights-based rules useful for utility. (3) Preference vs hedonistic: avoids quantification issues. (4) Bite the bullet: accept some counterintuitive implications. (5) Hybrid theories: combine consequentialist and deontological elements. Modern utilitarianism: more sophisticated than classical.