Shafer Landau An Act Consequentialism, And Rule Utilitarianism

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Recommended: Why is rule utilitarianism better than act

Answer (A) According to the book Shafer Landau an act utilitarianism is “the version of act consequentialism that says that only well-being is intrinsically valuable, and so says that an act is morally right just because it maximizes overall well-being” (Shafer Landau, G1). In the other words, it means that the act that produces the maximum of the happiness at that time than any other act. Another similar example of this act for the better understanding is, if I have a friend and being with her gives me the most happiness than being with any other friends at that time, but it does not give the same happiness to her and I am unaware about it at that time then it’s also defines as an act utilitarian. It is act utilitarian because I am still getting the most happiness at that time. According to the act utilitarian whatever the doctors did, produced maximum pleasure over pain for the doctors at that time. The act of hiding the fact of giving the cancer cell injections to the patients, produced the maximum pleasure because by hiding the fact, the doctors thought that they might find a cure for cancer. …show more content…

So by looking at the definition of rule utilitarianism, the doctors would have to look at the overall concept that is related to everyone and ask for the permission before injecting the patient. By this act, it will not give them the maximum of pleasure over pain. Whereas if it was an act utilitarian, it would produce greatest pleasure over pain by following the act utilitarianism because, by not telling or asking the patients would give them the results they wanted without even asking the patients. If somehow they found the cure of the cancer by trying the cancer injections on the patients without their consent at a hospital, that would still be wrong because the patients will not know that the injections that they are given are not for their treatment but an

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