Dostoevsky's Crime And Punishment: Raskolnikov's Mathematical Evaluation Of Moral Dilemma Presented To Him Exemplifies The Empirical View Of Utilitarianism

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of deliberating about the act of murder in such a
mathematical manner. He might contend that Raskolnikov's reasoning, and the
entire theory of utilitarianism, cannot be used to judge morality because it
rejects individual rights and contains no moral absolutes.
A utilitarian bases his belief upon two principles: the theory of right
actions and the theory of value. These two principles work together and serve
as criteria for whether or not a utilitarian can deem an action morally right.
First, the theory of right action argues that the morally right decision is the
one whose consequences are at least as good as any other available option . For
example, upon receiving the assignment for this paper, I could have chosen to
ignore the assignment and spend my time on something more enjoyable, or I could
have worked diligently on my paper, actually turning it in. Employing the
utilitarian principle, I would have to weigh each option and then decide which
one has consequences at ...

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job, marrying the perfect
man, and having 2.5 kids.
Therefore, utilitarianism not concerned with just the short-term
consequences of the decision nor with the sole effects on the agent himself. A
utilitarian must consider the long-term effects and the amount of pleasure or
pain that others will experience as a result of his decision. The agent cannot
just consider his personal level of pleasure or pain. In fact, there may be
cases where the utilitarian's right decision may cause the agent only pain.
However, in accordance to the greatest good for the greatest number philosophy
of utilitarianism, the decision that is morally right produces the greatest
amount of net pleasure for ...

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