Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“Reading comments on my recent post on implications of different versions of utilitarianism I was struck by the number of commenters who identified utilitarianism with central planning, assumed that anyone who took utilitarianism seriously must be in favor of the government ordering people around, redistributing income, controlling the society. Utilitarianism is the view that individuals should act to maximize total (or average) utility. To get from that to a political position requires a theory of what political institutions maximize utility.” (05/24/25)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/utilitarianism-and-politics