Compare act and rule utilitarianism Flashcards
(9 cards)
What is act utilitarianism?
Act utilitarianism is the theory of ethics that states that a person’s act is morally right if and only if it produces the best possible results in that specific situation.
What is rule utilitarianism?
Rule utilitarianism states an action is right if it conforms to a rule that then leads to the greatest good.
the main similarity between act and rule utilitarianism is?
Despite both having different definitions they do agree that the humans aim in evaluating actions should be to create the best results possible, but they differ about how you do it.
What is the right action?
The right action in any situation is the one that yields more utility (i.e. creates more well-being) than other available actions.
What do act utilitarian’s believe in?
Whenever we are deciding what to do, we should perform the action that will create the greatest net utility. In their view, the principle of utility—do whatever will produce the best overall results—should be applied on a case-by-case basis
Waht do rule utilitarians stress the importance of?
-Rule utilitarian’s stress the importance of moral rules and they use a two-part view that emphasizes these rules.
-A specific action is morally justified if it conforms to a justified moral rule, that moral rule is only justified if its inclusion into our moral code would create more utility than other possible rules
The key difference between act and rule utilitarianism is?
Act utilitarian’s apply the utilitarian principle directly to the evaluation of individual actions while rule utilitarian’s apply the utilitarian principle directly to the evaluation of rules and then evaluate individual actions by seeing if they obey or disobey those rules whose acceptance will produce the most utility.
The key difference between the criticism for rule and act utilitarianism?
Act utilitarianism may lead to a person being able to justify anything e.g. killing poor people and using their organs on valuable members of society, hence why there is no defence for the minority in this branch. Meanwhile rule utilitarianism is deontological which means rules take priority
The key similarity between rule act utilitarianism is?
One similarity the two have in their criticisms is that because rule utilitarianism is relative it can also lead a person to justify anything as it allows them to have their own opinion or meaning they can twist something that would be considered morally wrong by the general population into something that is right similarly to how an act utilitarian can justify anything.
