Aristotelian virtue ethics versus Utilitarianism
Both are about making life go well. Utilitarianism judges acts by their results for everyone alike. Aristotle asks what a good human life is, and builds ethics around character and judgment.
What they share
Both are about making life go well. For Aristotle the final aim is flourishing, the end that every other good serves. For utilitarians the aim is to make life better by increasing good and reducing bad, and happiness or welfare is at the centre.
Where they differ
- Acts or character. Utilitarianism is a theory of right and wrong acts: an act is judged by whether it makes life better for those it touches, so the moral quality of an act is a function of its consequences. Aristotle's virtues are settled states of character formed by habit, and we become just by doing just things, starting in childhood.
- Whose good counts. Utilitarianism is impartial: everyone's interests count the same, or in Bentham's words each person counts for one and no one for more than one. Aristotle's starting question is different: what a good human life is, and what is special to humans, which is the activity of reason.
- One principle or judgment of cases. Utilitarianism offers a single test, the principle of utility, applied to acts or, in its rule form, to the rules that do most good if generally followed. Aristotle holds that what each situation asks cannot be settled by learning general rules, and takes practical wisdom, built from experience of particular cases.
A question that separates them
- Person or act. “Being a good person matters more than choosing the right act” against “What matters is whether an act does the most good”.
- Judgment or one test. “A good person judges each situation as it comes” against “One test, the result for everyone, decides every case”.
Critics say utilitarianism can seem to allow harming one person to benefit others, and that it asks too much of individuals. This page leaves those objections out because it compares starting points, not strengths.
Written by epchē in our own words, and checked against independent sources on 8 October 2026. The sources are listed below.
Read each on its own
Sources we used
- Aristotle's Ethics · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, read on 8 October 2026
- Aristotle: Ethics · Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, read on 8 October 2026
- The History of Utilitarianism · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, read on 8 October 2026
- Act and Rule Utilitarianism · Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, read on 8 October 2026