Utilitarianism

Overview

Utilitarianism holds that the right action produces the greatest net well-being across all affected parties, weighted by magnitude and probability. Its power: it forces implicit trade-offs explicit. Its limit: the aggregation problem — summing welfare can justify severe losses to a few for diffuse gains to many, with no individual floor.

Compose with neighbors: expected-value-and-kelly for probabilistic welfare estimates · second-order-thinking to trace full consequence chains · prisoners-dilemma when welfare-maximizing outcomes require coordination.

When to Use

Apply when: (a) decision affects multiple parties with heterogeneous impacts; (b) performing cost-benefit analysis; (c) evaluating ethical trade-offs; (d) user asks "who benefits / who gets hurt," "what's the net impact," "is this worth the trade-off?"

When NOT to use: deontological constraint is present (use as input, not sole framework); impacts too uncertain to aggregate; single-party decision (use expected-value-and-kelly); intrinsic rights question (pair with deontological frameworks).

Coaching Novices (Adaptive Front Door)

• Engine mode: user has a concrete multi-party decision → run The Process directly.
• Coach mode: user unfamiliar or no concrete case → guide step by step.