Some thoughts on applying rule utilitarianism

"Candidates produce an essay in which they apply a moral theory to a given situation...."

This simple instruction contains a trap for the unwary. Rule utilitarianism doesn’t primarily apply to ‘given situations’. That’s the point of rule utilitarianism. Of course, it is entirely possible to reference aspects of a scenario when discussing rule utilitarianism but that is not the same thing as applying the theory. It may be argued that at Higher this is a subtle distinction that doesn’t matter but that would be a mistake. Pupils find rule utilitarianism difficult enough without being taken onto the wrong path. An example of what can go wrong can be seen in the evidence from Candidate 1 in the Understanding Standards material. The candidate says,

This is incorrect. I am unaware of any rule utilitarian who would advocate such a procedure. Rule utilitarianism doesn’t look for underlying rules or extrapolate from single situations. Indeed, it looks suspiciously as if the candidate has blended utilitarianism with a Kantian search for the underlying maxim. Rule utilitarianism is a theory aimed more at rule makers than the rule followers. There is some discussion about what to do if the rules haven’t been optimised according to the utilitarian principles but if there is a utilitarian set of rules then all the individual needs to do is to follow the appropriate rule.

There is a generic way in which rule utilitarianism can be discussed in relation to many scenarios. There is the question as to what is recommended if the most obvious rule happens to fail on this particular occasion to maximise happiness. There are two responses. Firstly, all rules must be qualified with appropriate exception clauses ("Don't lie except when...") and, secondly, rules are always prima facie so a more serious rule can trump a less serious rule (or there may be some other tie-breaking mechanism). Accordingly, rule utilitarianism doesn't have any more difficulty than common sense morality with telling a lie to save a life. Appropriate discussion can then focus on whether these two strategies are adequate. The upshot is that, given act utilitarians also invariably advocate the following of rules, when it comes to almost all scenarios, whatever the right thing to do might be in theory, in practice act utilitarians and rule utilitarians will probably advocate exactly the same course of action. The crucial difference is that they will do so for different reasons.