Chapter 15 Chapter Summary

Pojman distinguishes between act and rule utilitarianism and suggests that the latter may be a more credible version of the theory, as it conforms to our rule-following nature and tends to provide more specific guidance than act utilitarianism. Utilitarianism in general has two main strengths: (i) it provides us with a single principle—do what will promote the most utility—and is potentially applicable to every situation, and (ii) it gets at the substance of morality rather than merely providing us with an overly formal rule such as the categorical imperative. However, opponents have also raised a number of powerful objections to utilitarianism. Pojman presents five (the no-rest objection, the absurd implications objection, the integrity objection, the justice objection, and the publicity objection) and discusses possible utilitarian responses to each.