Act Utilitarianism: the right thing for you to do in any situation is the action that will lead to the greatest amount of pleasure over pain possible
Everyone’s pleasure counts equally: total overall pleasure is what matters; how distributed is irrelevant
purely forward-looking, not backward: all that matters are future consequences
3 objections to Act-Utilitarianism:
- “No Time” objection (Ch2, ¶24)
- “Too Demanding” objection (Ch2, ¶19)
- it requires me to do too much and is too intrusive in my life. everydecision is a moral decision
- “Too Lenient” objection (Nagel’s War & Massacre)
- any kind of action could be morally required in certain circumstances: killing, torture, maiming, theft, etc.
*** CLASS BROKE EARLY, INSTRUCTOR ILL ***
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