Three approaches

1.  Cost/benefit – quantifiable approach.    Maximize positive utilities (benefits)

Against negative utilities (costs).

2.  Act utilitarian – “Will the course of action produce more good than any alternative course of action that I could take”?

3.  Rule utilitarian – “Would utility be maximized if everyone did the same thing in the same circumstances”? Adoption of commonly accepted rules.

1. COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS:

•  Assess the available options

•  Assess the costs and benefits of each option for the entire audience affected

• Make the decision that is likely to result in the greatest benefit relative to cost.

2. ACT-UTILITARIANISM:

• Focuses on individual actions, rather than general rules.

•    An act is right if it is likely to produce the most good for the most people involved in the particular situation.

• Rules may be broken whenever doing so will produce the most good in a specific situation.

• Happiness is the only ‘intrinsic’ good and all others are ‘instrumental’ goods that serve as the means of happiness.

3. RULE-UTILITARIANISM:

• This regards moral values as primary.

•   We should follow the rules and avoid bribes, even when those acts do not have the best consequences in a particular situation, because the general practice of following rules and not bribing produce the most overall good

•  Rules should be considered in sets called ‘moral codes’. A moral code is justified when followed, would maximize the public good more than alternative codes would.