Examples Of Act Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that treats all interests as equal and is based of the “Greatest happiness principle.” The greatest happiness principle basically says if everyone thinks it’s for the best and satisfies the most people, it has to be the right option. It aims for “the greatest good for the greatest number.” Founded by Jeremy Bentham, it targets the most happiness in everyone, which sounds like a pretty good option when you first look at it. Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism in which it aims for the better choice with more positive outcomes. There are two types of utilitarianism, act and rule. Act utilitarianism focuses on the greatest happiness it will produce in certain circumstances. So for example, say that a world known surgeon and a homeless man were both choking at the same time. …show more content…
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