John Stuart Mill Act Utilitarianism

To live a moral and ethical life, one must first determine what is truly moral. There are many philosophical theories arguing different views of ethics. One of the primary theories is utilitarianism, which is a normative ethical theory which has been established and defended by two renowned philosophers named Jeremy Bentham and John Stewart Mill. This theory simply states that one should always act to provide the maximum happiness to the greatest number. After much objection to this general rule, two views of utilitarianism emerged. The first is called the act utilitarianism and the second is rule utilitarianism, the divide gives a less absolute option by using rules. The Classical utilitarian’s, Bentham and Mill were mostly concerned with

It is a concept that believes that the morality of an action is determined by its usefulness or utility to most of the people, that this act is in accordance with the moral rules since it brings the greatest happiness. “Its advocates do not believe in setting up rules for action because they feel that each situation and each person are different” (Thiroux and Krasemann) Act utilitarianism is the truest form of the original utilitarianism, and has a lot of flaws and criticism, therefore the rule utilitarianism

“In this form, the basic utilitarian principle is not that everybody should always act to bring about the greatest good for all concerned, but rather that everyone should always establish and follow that rule or those rules that will bring about the greatest good for all concerned” (Thiroux and Krasemann). This will establish a set of rules and “it also provides a set of rules that can be alluded to in the moral education of the uninitiated” (Thiroux and Krasemann). An example would be the rule of always be honest unless you are in danger. Most would agree that honesty is the best policy, and utilitarianism would say that there are no exceptions, but rule utilitarianism would allow for the “except when in danger” clause. Sometimes lying is necessary in order to save yourself or your family. Or that one should not murder unless in self defense. This is a prime example where rule utilitarianism is necessary. If one was to follow the rule of murder for any reason is unethical, it could cost them there own life. Therefore the clause of “except in self defense” is necessary. For the most part judging morality on what creates the greatest good and following a code of ethics is the best principle to follow, but there are situations where exceptions are needed and this view allows the necessary