What do most communists think of utilitarianism?

[mollymae]

Since communism and utilitarianism are both fundamentally collectivist I would think that they would go hand in hand most of the time, however I have seen some (somewhat indirect) criticism of utilitarianism on this site. Do communism and utilitarianism not compliment each other, or am I just confused?

[blake 3:17]

There is an easy correspondence between Utilitarianism and authoritarian forms of socialism - Utopian, Social Democratic and Stalinist.

For those of to the Left of those ideologies, Utilitarianism does pose a challenge. From what I understand of the debates on this is that Utilitarian goals are short sighted. What if we had prevented the invasion of Iraq? Most of the world would have been happier.

[mikelepore]

It has the advantage of being free of arbitrary or mystical sources, and it attempts to answer a question by referring only to reality. It has the disadvantage of being difficult to apply in definite cases, because the happiness considered has to be of the most genuine kind and and in the long run, which determinations are in dispute.

[Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor]

Just because someone kills someone and says it's for the greater good doesn't mean they're a utilitarian. Utilitarianism is based on mathematical analysis and empirical observation. I would be very skeptical of anyone who claimed utilitarianism justified Stalinism.

I don't think Utilitarianism is correct, but I think it is correct in the majority of situations. Most critiques of utilitarianism are usually the result of misapplication of the theory.

[ContrarianLemming]

Utilitarianism isn't necessarily collectivist, it has influenced neo liberals and socialists. I am a Utilitarian, and I think the basic ideas of "utility" being at the heart of things, including production, goes hand in hand with our ideas.

People say Utilitarianism is "the ends justifies the means"ism, it's not, not at all.

[Durruti's Ghost]

I am a utilitarian in the sense that I believe what we perceive certain actions as morally "good" because they seem to maximize utility, and that most disagreements over what is good ultimately derive from disagreements about what maximizes utility. I don't see how utilitarianism is fundamentally collectivist, though. Many important classical liberals built their political philosophy on a utilitarian foundation.

[Agnapostate]

I'm also a utilitarian, and I agree that it's been subject to tremendous misinterpretation, especially from stronger critics. Consequentialism does imply that the ends justify the means, but critics of this typically use grotesquely inaccurate analogies to attack some sort of incoherent strawman.

As to its compatibility with socialism and communism, socialism faced outright opposition from Jeremy Bentham (who was heavily criticized by Marx), and a varying response from John Stuart Mill, who seemed to grow less critical of socialist philosophy as he aged. The meta-ethical axiom of provision of the greatest good to the greatest number of people (or the greatest overall good, if they're regarded as conflicting), does seem to square fairly well with straightforward socialist principles.