In general with all the discussion here of average vs total utilitarianism, in my perception both are well-meaning generally great solutions, but both do have their oddities, pursuant to applying the same mathematical measurement to both situations. Most of this discussion seems to be people just arguing over which oddity they prefer to accept, how you can discount those oddities, etc. But in both cases, it requires something more than the fundamental rule, saying “Yes let’s consider the average except when that means killing*. That works for a given person but it seems more to be patching up theories that don’t quite fit here, rather than using a theory that doesn’t require a patch at all.
In general with all the discussion here of average vs total utilitarianism, in my perception both are well-meaning generally great solutions, but both do have their oddities, pursuant to applying the same mathematical measurement to both situations. Most of this discussion seems to be people just arguing over which oddity they prefer to accept, how you can discount those oddities, etc. But in both cases, it requires something more than the fundamental rule, saying “Yes let’s consider the average except when that means killing*. That works for a given person but it seems more to be patching up theories that don’t quite fit here, rather than using a theory that doesn’t require a patch at all.