Mill's Adopted Stance: Is Act or Rule Utilitarianism Better? Anonymous College

It is widely accepted that Utilitarianism, as a discipline, is not as unifying or as straightforward a moral theory as it might at first appear; as Crisp highlights, there are, in fact, 'many variations, some of them subtle, others quite radical, between different forms of utilitarianism[1]'; representing two of these various forms are 'Act' and 'Rule' Utilitarianism. In this essay, I will aim to discuss the efficacy of the Act and Rule Utilitarian stances respectively, ultimately concluding that Act Utilitarianism, the stance I believe Mill himself adopts, is the better of the two and promotes the most coherent and valuable interpretation of the Utilitarian principle. Prior to engaging in an exploration of the relative successfulness of Act and Rule Utilitarianism, it is perhaps worth outlining the distinction between them. At a basic level, Act (sometimes referred to as 'direct') Utilitarianism can be defined as the moral theory which advocates that 'an act is right insofar as its consequences for the general happiness are at least as good as any alternative available to the agent[2].' For the Act Utilitarian, as Crisp more concisely states, 'the right action is that which maximizes happiness[3].' For the Rule (or indirect)...