Rule+Utilitarianism


 * Rule utilitarianism** is a form of utilitarianism which states that moral actions/right and wrong are those which agree with the **rules which lead to the greatest good** for the **greatest amount of people**.

For rule utilitarians, **the correctness of a __rule__ is determined by the amount of good it brings about when followed** – creating a __general rule__ to live by. **Act utilitarians judge actions in terms of the goodness of their consequences without reference to rules of action** – looking at specific scenerios. **An example of Rule Utilitarianism** - stresses the greater utility/usefulness of following a general rule, arguing that the practice of following some rule in all instances (**always stopping at red lights, for example**) will have better consequences overall than allowing exceptions to be made in individual instances, even if better consequences can be demonstrated in those instances. **Why would you ever go through a red light?** For an ambulance/pregnancy/the Prime Minister being shot? Other things being equal **people are happier if their society follows rules so people know what types of behaviour they can __expect from others__ in given situations**. Therefore utilitarians can justify a system that goes, "**Keep to the rules unless there is a strong reason for breaking them**."? Rule Utilitarianism is often split between weak and hard ! Can you tell the difference? A **specific criticism of rule utilitarianism states that it collapses into act utilitarianism**. David Lyons argued that collapse occurs because for any given rule, in the case where breaking the rule produces more utility, **the rule can be sophisticated by the addition of a __sub-rule__ that handles cases like the exception**. This process holds for all cases of **exceptions**, and so the ‘rules’ will have as many ‘sub-rules’ as there are **exceptional cases**, which, in the end, makes an agent seek out whatever outcome produces the maximum utility – and so becomes such a specific rule that it only works for that given scenario…