no exceptions, these are the rules- don’t reason episodically

rule - good moral rules maximize overall happiness, even if specific violations of the rules would offer greater happiness

two versions:
act - each specific action should aim to maximize overll utility and/or minimize overall suffering

general rules get in the way of maximizing happiness

only focuses on specific actions

Utilitarianism

Jeremy bentham; principles of moral legislation

utilitarianism:
increasing overall happiness is right,even if individual must suffer, benthal agrees with this

consequentalism= right conduct and proper moral theory attract consequences; aim to produce the best consequence

egalitarianism = equality

egalitarianism

1. maximizing overall equality is the best thing to do
2. right even if some people must suffer

we make all our moral decisions based on uncertainty

trolley problem:
change track and kill one instead of five

cross cultural support:

1. most people across all cultures think we should kill one person

bc fewer deaths are better

our judgements in intuition pumps indicates our moral theory

premise 2 tells us that most people offer utilitarian reasons for running over just one person

universalization-
moral principles must apply to everyone

ceteris paribus - all things equal

thus most people across all cultures are utilitarians

egoism - the focus is on the self

british economist, early laissez fair opposed to crown involvement

what should we think about when we make a law?

prudential - rational

man is rational to pursue pleasure and irrational to pursue pain

claim about rationality

hedonism: what is of value is pleasure and what is of disvalue is pain; there are no other values

if you’re not trying to make yourself happy, what’re you doing?

psychological hedonism:
2 masters - pleasure and pain

seek to feel pleasure and avoid pain

claim about psychology