Talk:Act utilitarianism

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[edit] Merge

Act Utilitarianism and Rule Utilitarianism are both very small and have limited potential, though the utilitarianism article itself is very large. As a compromise I suggest we merge these two articles into a single article Act and rule utilitarianism. (I'm not sure if they are both normally capitalized or not, getting that consistent across the articles is also a consideration.) Richard001 07:35, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

That might be a good idea, because then there could be a section which goes deeper into explaining the difference between the two.--Catquas 14:57, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

But still you should be aware that if they do get merged some people could think that it is one theory or that the two names represent the same (wich they don't, I might add). But apart from that it's a good idea. --/kresten 18:41, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

Although, I agree that it is a seemingly novel idea to merge Rule Utilitarianism and Act Utilitarianism in the pursuit of developing the relationship between the two, ultimately merging Rule Utilitarianism and Act Utilitarianism would be inappropriate. Those who use this site, predominantly students, may be confused by the terms' relationship and could potentially consider the terms to be the same. If one is addressing the problems of Act Utilitarianism, then it may be appropriate to mention Rule Utilitarianism as a remedy for these problems. Although the two are forms of Utilitarianism but both assert very different moral outcomes and should, in the pursuit of education and comprehension, remain separate. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 147.124.151.179 (talk • contribs) 15:23, March 7, 2007 (UTC).

I don't think the articles should be merged. Each article describes a different ethical view, even if they are both utilitarian views, and each article can be fleshed out. — Elembis (talk) 02:25, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

I think they should be kept separate - I certainly expected two different articles when I type the two different phrases into my browser. They are distinct brands of utilitarianism. Mustbcrackers 22/3/07

I agree that they should be kept separate. Not every article needs to be many pages long. In fact, unless there is a lot more material that needs to be added (and I can't think of much that does), I suggest that the stub markers be removed from this article and from its sister article. Stringman5 01:47, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Ok, so maybe not from its sister article. That one still needs soe work. But the rest stands. Stringman5 01:51, 23 March 2007 (UTC)