Act and rule utilitarianism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Act and rule utilitarianism - Essay Example When accounting for happiness, no individual or entity is given precedence over the other. The â€Å"Rule Utilitarianism† theory states that the acts of individuals will be judged as morally right or wrong with reference to the rules that are developed keeping in mind the principle (Rachels). Therefore, the principle is used to select a set of rules which then determine whether an action is right or wrong under a given situation. This theory has been criticized as attaching more significance to â€Å"rules† than they deserve. As opposed to this, â€Å"Act Utilitarianism† states that the principle is directly used to determine whether an action is right or wrong under a given situation without first applying that principle to select a set of rules (Rachels). Hence, this approach is referred to as â€Å"direct† utilitarianism, whereas the former is referred to as â€Å"indirect† utilitarianism. Furthermore, act utilitarianism is also referred to as the classic or original utilitarianism. For instance, in a society whereby killing someone i s prohibited by law, a rule utilitarian would argue that killing is morally incorrect because if the law is followed, everyone shall be free from the fear of being killed. Act utilitarians, on the other hand, would not accept legal considerations. This view would state that the killing is morally correct if it benefits most people in the society. Hence, it would be justified to kill a criminal, for example, as he/she would pose a threat to the society. The act utilitarianism approach propagates a hedonistic view of finding the best alternative course of action. The best action is therefore, one which produces the highest pleasure. However, rule utilitarianism counters this by claiming that actions that produce the highest utility for an individual may not be morally correct. For instance, human rights violation is not justified even if it results in net welfare for the