Beneficentrism

Abstract

Philosophical discussion of utilitarianism understandably focuses on its most controversial features: its rejection of deontic constraints and the “demandingness” of impartial maximizing. But in fact almost all of the important real-world implications of utilitarianism stem from a much weaker feature, one that I think probably ought to be shared by every sensible moral view. It’s just the claim that it’s really important to help others—however distant or different from us they may be.