Examples Of Act Utilitarianism

This then, in great summary, is utilitarianism as presented by Mill (sometimes called classical utilitarianism). It is the ethical philosophy that bases right and wrong on the production of happiness. It is also an ethical philosophy that stresses the greatest happiness of the greatest number as seen from an impartial bystander’s perspective. Before we discuss how Mozi’s philosophy can be applied to utilitarian morality, a distinction within utilitarianism must be made.
Act Utilitarianism vs. Rule Utilitarianism
Generally speaking, there are two kinds of utilitarianism, act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism. Each type of utilitarianism agrees that the end goal is the increase in overall happiness. They differ as how to accomplish this. Act utilitarianism states that one is to judge each act individually, that is on a case by case basis. If an act will produce more happiness, then it is morally right, if not, it is wrong.
Perhaps the most often used example is the utilitarian doctor example, which goes as such. If a doctor finds that a perfectly healthy patient’s organs are compatible with four other dying patients, and that an organ transplant from the healthy patient to the dying patient will save all four lives, then the doctor is morally obligated to sacrifice the healthy patient to save the four dying ones. This is because saving four lives and sacrificing one would cause less people pain than letting the four people die. And of course, according to act utilitarianism, decrease in pain—or increase in pleasure---is the aim of all moral decision making. This is obviously the wrong answer though. Only a hardcore utilitarian would argue that sacrificing an innocent person, when it can easily be avoided, is morally