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Negative Utilitarianism is a version of the ethical theory utilitarianism. Like other versions of utilitarianism, negative utilitarianism holds that moral right and wrong depend only on consequences for well-being.〔: "The whole family of utilitarian theories is captured by the equation: Utilitarianism = Consequentialism (nothing but the values of outcomes matter for the rightness of actions) + Welfarism (nothing but well-being matters for the value of outcomes)."〕 That is, for negative and other versions of utilitarianism, questions such as "what should I do?" and "what kind of person should I be?" are answered only based on the effects on well-being. Negative utilitarianism differs from other versions of utilitarianism by giving greater weight to minimizing negative well-being (disutility) than maximizing positive well-being (positive utility) in moral deliberations.〔: “Our point of departure was the firm intuition that unhappiness and suffering have greater weight than happiness. By taking this stand we revealed ourselves as members of the negative utilitarian family.” : “NU (utilitarianism ) comes in several flavours, which I will outline later, but the basic thrust is that an act is morally right if and only if it leads to less suffering than any available alternative. Unlike Classical Utilitarianism, positive experiences such as pleasure or happiness are either given no weight, or at least a lot less weight. (In what follows, I use the word 'happiness' to stand in for whatever aspects of life might be thought to have positive value).”〕 There are many kinds of negative utilitarianism. Negative utilitarianisms can differ by how much weight they give to disutility. For example, a distinction has been made between ''strong'' and ''weak'' versions of negative utilitarianism, where strong versions "give all weight to disutility" and weak versions "give some weight to positive utility, but more weight to disutility." Negative utilitarianisms can also (like other kinds of utilitarianisms) have different conceptions of utility. For example, negative preference utilitarianism says that the utility of an outcome depends on frustrated and satisfied preferences. Negative hedonistic utilitarianism thinks of utility in terms of hedonic mental states such as suffering and unpleasantness. There are many other variations on how negative utilitarianism can be specified. The term ‘negative utilitarianism’ was introduced by R. Ninian Smart in 1958 in his reply to Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies. Smart also presented the most famous argument against negative utilitarianism: that negative utilitarianism would entail that a ruler who is able to instantly and painlessly destroy the human race would have a duty to do so. Many authors have endorsed versions of this argument, and some have presented counterarguments against it. == Origin of the term ‘negative utilitarianism’== The term ‘negative utilitarianism’ was introduced by R. N. Smart in his 1958 reply to Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies, which was first published in 1945. Popper emphasized the public policy importance of preventing suffering. Although not a utilitarian himself, he wrote, He claimed that Smart then coined the term in his response to Popper. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Negative Utilitarianism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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