Should We Maximize Utility?: A Debate about Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism directs us to act in ways that impartially maximize welfare or utility or at least aim to do that. Some find this view highly compelling. Others object that it has intuitively repugnant results, that it condones evildoing and injustice, that it is excessively imposing and controlling, that it is alienating, and that it fails to offer meaningful, practical guidance.

In this ‘Little Debates’ volume, James Lenman argues that utilitarianism’s directive to improve the whole univers...