I consider myself a utilitarian. I’m not a perfect one, and I don’t think people have to be. However, before I focus on that, I’d like to focus on what “utilitarianism” means. When I say I’m a utilitarian, I’m saying that I have set out to make the world a better place, to the best of my ability. And by better place, I’m talking about a world where there everyone is better off than they were earlier.
Utilitarianism is a moral theory that says that one should aim to “maximize utility” whenever possible. What counts as “utility” is still more or less open for debate, but it can be thought of as “happiness”, “flourishing”, “well-being”, “welfare”, “pleasure”, or “life satisfaction”. These are all tricky concepts and I’ll tend to use them interchangably, but this isn’t to side-step an important debate about their differences and distinctions. Luckily for us, however, except in strange scenarios, everyone agrees on what makes things better for the most part. If Joan is suffering from malaria, it would be better to cure her disease. If Roger is living on $1 a day, it would be better to lift him out of poverty. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about happiness, flourishing, or pleasure… we should do these things.
When I think of utilitarianism, I think of three things: equality for all, only welfare matters, and we must act on our priorities.