Utility is the sum of all the good that comes from an action less all the bad that comes from it. The choice that maximizes utility is the moral one.

In other words, the choice that does the most good, for the most people is the most moral choice.

It seems sensible to base morality or ethics on increasing happiness and reducing unhappiness.

Or is it?

We see a lot of books (some of them adapted into films) where the setting is a dystopian future and the ones in power seem to have adopted Utilitarianism.

Les Miserables, The Hunger Games, 1984 and Snowpiercer are some of these. Where the average happiness of the society which exists in that time is of the utmost consideration in making decisions for the whole.

It does not matter how much those in the lower spectrum of society suffer, as long as it shows that society is generally happy as a whole.

People are reduced into numbers.

The fact that these numbers represent a father who is going through a great deal of hardship to provide for his family or a child that has not eaten in days due to lack of resources is overlooked.

Those books and films are truly depressing. You leave the theater or finish the last page feeling sorry for the characters then move on with your life.

You realize that maximizing average utility does not necessarily result in morally sound choices. Doing the most good for most people isn’t always fair.

Yet such arguments are often used in making decisions about health care, our education, our economics. Anywhere you can put numbers on good, there’s a temptation to maximize the average value.

Societies actually have policy directions based on the Principle of Greatest Utility. Again, it is seems sensible right?