Act utilitarianism

Act Utilitarianism is a utilitarian theory of ethics which states that, when faced with a choice, we must first consider the likely consequences of potential actions and, from that, choose to do what we believe will generate the most pleasure. Act utilitarianism is opposed to rule utilitarianism, which states that the morally right action is the one that is in accordance with a moral rule whose general observance would create the most happiness. Act utilitarianism will use the summary concept as opposed to the practice concept. The summary concept means that the rule is a generalization that a class of actions, such as the keeping of promises, is good.

Jeremy Bentham presented one of the earliest fully developed systems of utilitarianism. According to act-utilitarianism, it would be morally wrong to waste time on leisure activities such as watching television, since our time could be spent in ways that produced a greater social benefit, such as charity work. But prohibiting leisure activities doesn’t seem reasonable. More significantly, according to act-utilitarianism, specific acts of torture or slavery would be morally permissible if the social benefit of these actions outweighed the disbenefit.

See also

• Rule utilitarianism
• Two-level utilitarianism
• Preference utilitarianism
• Jeremy Bentham
• John Stuart Mill
• Peter Singer