A shipwreck has occurred in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and there is no time to radio for help. It is at a distance of a thousand miles from Africa. Rescue may not become. The captain is in a lifeboat but too many people want to get in, and a storm is approaching. If the captain follows utilitarian ethical theory, who will he allow to stay in the lifeboat?
The captain will allow everybody to get onto the boat if he follows those principles. An action is wright if it produces happiness, according to the utilitarian theory.
