How Indirect Can Indirect Utilitarianism Be?

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 74 (2):275-301 (2007)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Most act-utilitarians now reject the direct utilitarianism of Bentham. They do so because they are convinced of what I call the paradox of utilitarianism -- the thought that one cannot maximize happiness if one is trying to maximize happiness. Instead, they adopt some form of indirect utilitarianism (IU), arguing that the optimal decision procedure may differ markedly from the criterion of rightness for actions. Here I distinguish between six different versions of indirect utilitarianism, arguing that the weaker versions of IU also fall prey to the paradox of utilitarianism, while the stronger versions of IU violate an overwhelmingly plausible moral principle, the principle that one ought to V only if one can V intentionally.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 79,912

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

A dilemma for objective act-utilitarianism.Gerald Lang - 2004 - Politics, Philosophy and Economics 3 (2):221-239.
Utilitarianism, contractualism and demandingness.Alison Hills - 2010 - Philosophical Quarterly 60 (239):225-242.
Utilitarianism and infinite utility.Peter Vallentyne - 1993 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 71 (2):212 – 217.
Utilitarianism.John Stuart Mill - 2009 - In Steven M. Cahn (ed.), Exploring Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology. Oxford University Press.
The diminishing marginal value of happy people.James L. Hudson - 1987 - Philosophical Studies 51 (1):123 - 137.
Introducing Variable-Rate Rule-Utilitarianism.Michael Ridge - 2006 - Philosophical Quarterly 56 (223):242 - 253.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
113 (#119,293)

6 months
6 (#144,929)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Eric Wiland
University of Missouri, St. Louis

Citations of this work

Consequentialism and Nonhuman Animals.Tyler John & Jeff Sebo - 2020 - In Douglas W. Portmore (ed.), Oxford Handbook of Consequentialism. New York, USA: Oxford University Press. pp. 564-591.
‘Ought’, ‘Can’, and Fairness.Rob van Someren Greve - 2014 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 17 (5):913-922.
Indirect Instrumentalism about Political Legitimacy.Matthias Brinkmann - 2019 - Moral Philosophy and Politics 6 (1):175-202.

View all 7 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references