Utilitarianism Theory (Summary)

Utilitarians argue that goodness of a given act is determined my measuring the expected consequences that would follow from such act. To utilitarian, motives and character don’t matter in defining what a good action is. Rather, the stress is on acts and its consequences If such expected consequences tend to increase the amount of utility/happiness to maximum number of persons, then the act would be considered good. The purpose of the pleasure calculus is to measure such expected utility.
Two types of Utilitarianism: 1- act utilitarians define calculations only in respect to acts alone. 2- Rule utlititarins define calculation in terms of rules rather than acts. So rules are either maximize utility or not.