Utilitarianism, Disability, and Society

Abstract

What are the social implications of utilitarianism with respect to disability? In this chapter I give a rough answer to this question: the implications are well in accordance with our common sense thinking, once various prejudices in relation to disability have been exposed. In order to be able to establish this claim, there are some obvious preliminaries that must be sorted out. Before I can develop my argument, I must say something about what I mean by “utilitarianism” and “disability,” and also about how, in the present context, I conceive of a “social” implication. I turn first to the notion of disability, then move on to utilitarianism, and finally to various possible social responses to disability.