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balances rule
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this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2023
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Violating someone's bodily autonomy causes harm but I don't think consent itself exists in utilitarianism. "Dont do stuff to people that they dont consent to" is a rule. I think it's clear that the mental anguish of having your extra kidney taken would be less than all the pain avoided by the child not going through a slow and painful death, and all the happiness they gain in the chance to a life they can now live.
Consent certainly can be a factor in utilitarian analyses, but it depends on the philosopher how strongly it is weighted. I'm not a strict utilitarian myself; my original point was to show that the premise of the meme (and in general, public understanding of utilitarianism) focuses too much on an extreme, comically oversimplified view of utility analysis.