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Explain the difference between act and rule Utilitarianism.
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Utilitarianism Explain the difference between act and rule Utilitarianism. (33 marks) Utilitarianism, in its most basic form is ' the greatest happiness for the greatest number'. Coming from the Latin word, 'utilis', which means useful. Jeremy Bentham wrote, in one of his books in 1789, that utility is, 'a property in any object, whereby it tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good, or happiness...or... to prevent the happenings of mischief, pain, evil, or unhappiness'. It is easy to assume that utilitarianism is based on the fact that if something is useful, then it is moral. However, this is very wrong, the theory is much more complex than this, being involved in decisions, actions and consequences. The theory of Utilitarianism was developed by Jeremy Bentham, in his work, 'The principles of morals and legislation', which was a mix of ethics and politics, both of which he was very interested in. Bentham was hedonist, and...
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