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What Is Utilitarianism?

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Utilitarianism Utilitarians think that the right choice is that which brings about the future state of affairs with the greatest net benefit and/or the least net harm. Setting aside the well-known and to-this-day interminable difficulties utilitarians face in identifying and defining (and then balancing) equivocal "benefits" and "harms," Miller asserts that utilitarians would favour same-sex marriage because the "direct benefits" to same-sex couples of being eligible to marry obviously outweigh the only "indirect harms" that "some people" might experience from having their conception of marriage "hurt." Despite the recognition (without explication) that there are "many factors to consider," only these two are actually considered and - presto!

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