Definition
The Average View (or Average Utilitarianism) is a principle in population ethics which holds that the best outcome is the one that maximizes the average level of well-being (utility) per person in a population. This is contrasted with the Total View, which seeks to maximize the sum of well-being across all individuals.
Why It Matters
It forces us to consider individual quality of life rather than just total population size, with profound implications for ethics and policy. It prevents the conclusion that a massive population of barely-living people is better than a small, flourishing one.
Core Concepts
- Quality over Quantity: According to the Average View, a small population of extremely happy people is preferable to a massive population of moderately happy people, provided the average happiness in the smaller group is higher.
- The Repugnant Conclusion Avoidance: The Average View was largely developed to avoid Derek Parfit’s “Repugnant Conclusion,” which suggests that under the Total View, we must prefer a world with a trillion people whose lives are “barely worth living” over a world with a million people living “blissful” lives, simply because the total sum of utility is higher in the former.
- The Addition Problem: A major criticism of the Average View is that adding a person to the world whose life is very good (but slightly below the current average) would be considered “bad” because it lowers the overall average, even though a happy person was added.
- The Replacement Problem: It could theoretically justify killing off less-happy individuals to “boost the average” of the survivors, which leads to significant moral contradictions.