Such indirect consequentialism says, for example, that an act is right if it accords with a set of rules whose being accepted, or followed, would have consequences as good as those that would result from any other set of rules' being accepted, or followed. Act-consequentialism, by contrast, evaluates actions directly in terms of their own consequences. By contrast with ordinary or common-sense morality, utilitarianism is an impartial or impersonal moral view. Ordinary morality is 'agent-relative' and allows each person to favour those near and dear to him, but for utilitarianism each person is fundamentally morally equal to every other, and any favouritism must be justified by overall good consequences for people generally. We are allowed to throw away our own possessions, but not those of others, and negligent self-damage is not criticized the way the negligent damaging of others is.
Utilitarianism allows of no such moral distinctions.
The topic is a subject of continuing philosophical debate. H. Sidgwick, The Methods of Ethics , 7th edn. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy 3. satisficing The Oxford Companion to Philosophy 4. All rights reserved.