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Apples and oranges — Part II: Is Utilitarianism unfit for purpose?
Utilitarianism receives a great deal of criticism. Is it a useless tool for making decisions, or are the detractors overstating their case?
(Part I is here.)
Imagine a business — say, a bakery — that has an opportunity to expand its production. Their customers want to buy both more bread and more pies. There is unused space at their premises, but it is not large enough to accommodate both bread and pastry production. How should they decide which product to focus on? It makes sense for the company to be guided by the amount of net profit they can expect from either option — the difference between the cost of making the goods, and the revenue they will generate.
The cost will include things like financing, raw materials, energy and labour, while the revenue will depend on the selling price of a loaf or a pie, and the number actually sold. The fact that there are so many different elements that contribute to the overall profit is not a problem, because there is a single unit in which each one can be expressed: dollars, pounds, euros, or whatever the currency unit is in which the bakery operates. Plugging in the facts for both bread and pastry will quickly and easily show which of the two…
