The Reading Room

Spend much time in discussion of ethics and you’ll likely hear standard objections to various utilitarian theories. In their single-minded drive to maximize some version of the good (e.g., desirable conscious states like pleasure), utilitarian theories are said to run afoul of situations that seem morally dubious, if not abhorrent. Perhaps on utilitarian grounds it is morally permissible, or even obligatory, to kill an innocent person if that quiets a rampaging mob who thinks she is guilty, and there isn’t enough time to persuade them otherwise.