Henry Sidgwick in “The Methods of Ethics” actually makes the argument that Utilitarianism can be thought of as having a single predominant rule, namely the Greatest Happiness Principle, and that all other correct moral rules could follow from it, if you just looked closely enough at what a given rule was really saying. He noted that when properly expanded, a moral rule is essentially an injunction to act a certain way in a particular circumstance, that is universal to any person in identical circumstances. He also had some interesting things to say about the relationships between virtues and Utilitarianism, and more or less tried to show that the various commonly valued virtues could be inferred from a Utilitarian perspective.
Of course Sidgwick was arguing in a time before the clear-cut delineation of moral systems into “Deontological”, “Consequentialist”, and “Virtue Ethics”. But I thought it would be useful to point out that early classical Utilitarian thinkers did not see these clear-cut delineations and instead, often made use of the language of rules and virtues to further their case for Utilitarianism as a comprehensive and inclusive moral theory.
Henry Sidgwick in “The Methods of Ethics” actually makes the argument that Utilitarianism can be thought of as having a single predominant rule, namely the Greatest Happiness Principle, and that all other correct moral rules could follow from it, if you just looked closely enough at what a given rule was really saying. He noted that when properly expanded, a moral rule is essentially an injunction to act a certain way in a particular circumstance, that is universal to any person in identical circumstances. He also had some interesting things to say about the relationships between virtues and Utilitarianism, and more or less tried to show that the various commonly valued virtues could be inferred from a Utilitarian perspective.
Of course Sidgwick was arguing in a time before the clear-cut delineation of moral systems into “Deontological”, “Consequentialist”, and “Virtue Ethics”. But I thought it would be useful to point out that early classical Utilitarian thinkers did not see these clear-cut delineations and instead, often made use of the language of rules and virtues to further their case for Utilitarianism as a comprehensive and inclusive moral theory.