Utilitarianism vs. common good

[TheAdvocate]

Utilitarianism advocates the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people. Catholicism has condemned it. And yet—it keep talking about the “common good.” What’s the difference?

 

[kentuckyliz]

The bloodbath of the 20th century shows that regimes that kill people for the common good are a nightmare.

You can never murder or maltreat an individual in pursuit of the common good. You must always respect the integrity and rights of the person.

 

[TheAdvocate]

And yet, Catholic bishops frequently speak of the “common good” in their social justice documents…

 

[VeniEmmanuel]

Most modern Catholic bishops (in fact, most men of religious authority) are not particularly philosophically literate.

In any case, Utilitarianism is not simply about the ‘greatest good for the greatest number of people’ but is ultimately about the maximising utility (or ‘the good’) and minimising negative utility (or ‘the bad’) as summed among all morally relevant beings. In classical utilitarianism, ‘the good’ is happiness or pleasure and ‘the bad’ is pain or suffering.

According to that definition, I think it is quite easy to understand why many Roman Catholic moral philosophers reject classical utilitarianism, although there are other forms of utilitarianism and consquentialism.