Final answer:
Utilitarianism is a moral theory that emphasizes the consequences of an action, specifically the amount of happiness it produces for the greatest number of people. However, critics argue that utilitarianism oversimplifies morality and does not fully capture our common moral experience.
Step-by-step explanation:
Utilitarianism is a moral theory that focuses on the consequences of an action. According to utilitarians like Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, the rightness of an action is determined by the amount of happiness it produces for the greatest number of people. This means that actions are considered morally good if they maximize overall happiness.
However, critics argue that utilitarianism does not adequately explain our common experience of morality. They question whether increasing happiness is really the sole purpose of morality, or if there are other important factors to consider. They also argue that utilitarianism oversimplifies moral decision-making by treating moral rules as absolute and always binding, without considering individual circumstances.
Overall, utilitarianism provides a framework for assessing the morality of actions based on their consequences, but it may not fully capture the complexities of moral experience in practice.