Rule utilitarianism

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John Stuart Mill , father of rule utilitarianism

Rule- (English, rule utilitarianism ') is an ethical position which is on the principles of Utilitarismus relies. Rule utilitarianism applies the criterion of greatest general happiness to rules of action, but not to specific individual actions. The rule utilitarianism can therefore be seen as a response to criticism of act or action utilitarianism. However, it is itself one of the ethics of deontology , since with the help of a rule based on the utilitarian principle, it always only considers the action itself, and not the concrete consequences of an action, as utilitarianism as a teleology does.

The following example (based on RBBrandt) demonstrates the problems of such a utilitarianism of action (English 'act utilitarianism'): Mr Müller promised 12-year-old Fritz to give 10 euros if he mows his lawn. After the lawn has been mowed, Mr. Müller, a good utilitarian, asks himself whether it is the maximization of general happiness if he gives Fritz the promised money. Maybe he should donate the money to the aid organization Bread for the World ...

Mr Müller's approach contradicts the usual moral intuitions. Regular utilitarians like RB Brandt accept this criticism. They consider it inadmissible to re-examine an individual act that represents the observance of a utilitarian justified rule for its utilitarian justification. The individual action (that Mr. Müller Fritz gives the promised € 10) is justified by the rule (“Promise should be kept”), and only this rule can be justified utilitarian.

Other utilitarians see no reason for rule utilitarianism. You follow Bentham in it. He was of the opinion that there is also a utilitarian justification for the obligation to adhere to obligations in each individual case. If someone does not keep his promise, he is doing great harm by undermining the institutions of promise and contract that ensure trust and predictability for society as a whole. In addition, it damages its reputation as a reliable partner and thus also its own interests.

The rule utilitarianism can be seen as an answer to the criticism that Bentham's utilitarianism is an ethic of the majority. Action utilitarianism, following this criticism, would allow minority discrimination if it tended to promote the aggregate happiness of all individuals, the happiness of society. In contrast, rule utilitarianism does not allow minority discrimination to apply morally insofar as it demands rules of action that must be strictly adhered to by all individuals.

literature

  • Richard B. Brandt : Ethical Theory , Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall 1959.
  • Richard B. Brandt: Some Merits of One Form of Rule-Utilitarianism , in: University of Colorado Studies in Philosophy 1967, 39–65, also in: ders .: Morality, Utilitarianism, and Rights, Cambridge University Press, New York 1992, 111–36, ( Introduction ; PDF; 745 kB)
    • German translation in: Otfried Höffe (ed.): Introduction to utilitarian ethics , Munich: CH Beck 1975, 2. A. UTB 1992, 121–132.
  • Richard B. Brandt: A Theory of the Good and the Right , Oxford 1979.
  • BA Brody: The Equivalence of Act and Rule Utilitarianism , in: Philosophical Studies 1967.
  • AC Ewing: What Would Happen if Everyone Acted Like Me? , in: Philosophy 28 (1953), 16-29.
  • Tom Hill Jr .: Assessing Moral Rules : Utilitarian and Kantian Perspectives, in: Philosophical Issues 15 (2005), 158-178.
  • Brad Hooker: Act-consequentialism versus Rule-consequentialism , in: Politeia 24 (2008), 75-85.
  • Brad Hooker: Right, Wrong, and Rule-consequentialism , in: Henry West (ed.): Blackwell Guide to Mill's Utilitarianism, Boston: Blackwell Publishers 2006, 233-48.
  • Brad Hooker: Ideal Code, Real World: A Rule-Consequentialist Theory of Morality , Oxford: Oxford University Press 2000.
  • David Lyons: Forms and Limits of Utilitarianism , Oxford 1965.
  • EF McClennen: The Rationality of Being Guided by Rules , in: AR Mele & P. Rawling (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Rationality, New York: Oxford University Press 2004, 222-239.
  • Tim Mulgan: Future People , Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006.
  • John Rawls : Two Concepts of Rules , in: Philosophical Review 64 (1955), 3-22.
  • Samuel Scheffler: The Rejection of Consequentialism , Oxford: Clarendon Press 1982.
  • Michael Slote : Common-Sense Morality and Consequentialism , London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1985.
  • JJC Smart : Extreme and Restricted Utilitarianism , in: Philosophical Quarterly 6 (1956), 344-54, revised in: TK Hearn (ed.): Studies in Utilitarianism, New York 1971, 251-64,
    • German translation in: Otfried Höffe (ed.): Introduction to utilitarian ethics , Munich: CH Beck 1975, 2. A. UTB 1992, 119–32.
  • AK Stout: "But Suppose Everybody Did the Same?", In: Australasian Journal of Philosophy 32, 1-29.
  • JO Urmson : The Interpretation of the Philosophy of JS Mill , in: Philosophical Quarterly 3 (1953), 33–39,
    • German translation in: Otfried Höffe (ed.): Introduction to utilitarian ethics , Munich: CH Beck 1975, 2. A. UTB 1992, 87–95.
  • Henry West: Mill's Moral Conservatism , in: Midwest Studies in Philosophy 1 (1976), 71-80.
  • Bernard Williams / JJC Smart (eds.): Utilitarianism . For and Against, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1973,
    • German transl .: Critique of Utilitarianism, Frankfurt / Main: Klostermann 1979.

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