Act Utilitarianism is more of a what will be the best decision to make in that moment and what will maximize happiness overall. The other type is Rule Utilitarianism, which focuses more on the general rules of whatever duty you are given and thinks long term vs. what is better in the moment. If you drive by an accident and someone is seen thrown out of the car seizing in the road and you happen to be a doctor or nurse. Your duty would be to stop your car and help the person having a seizure. By ignoring that, you would be breaking the duty that you were given. Perhaps the person wanted to die and purposefully crashed their car, your action by saving them, as a rule utilitarian was still the best option there was because you weren’t trying to go against their wishes. You were just performing the duty you were given as a health
Act Utilitarianism is more of a what will be the best decision to make in that moment and what will maximize happiness overall. The other type is Rule Utilitarianism, which focuses more on the general rules of whatever duty you are given and thinks long term vs. what is better in the moment. If you drive by an accident and someone is seen thrown out of the car seizing in the road and you happen to be a doctor or nurse. Your duty would be to stop your car and help the person having a seizure. By ignoring that, you would be breaking the duty that you were given. Perhaps the person wanted to die and purposefully crashed their car, your action by saving them, as a rule utilitarian was still the best option there was because you weren’t trying to go against their wishes. You were just performing the duty you were given as a health