Part one of term paper
“One death, and a thousand lives in exchange--it’s simple arithmetic.” -Raskolnikov Raskolnikov’s mathematical evaluation of the moral dilemma presented to him in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment exemplifies the empirical view of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism attempts to distinguish between right and wrong by m ...

Part two of term paper
... claim that murdering the old woman can be considered morally right. Raskolnikov arbitrarily leaves out some necessary considerations in his moral “equation” that do not adhere to utilitarianism. A utilitarian would argue that Raskolnikov has not reached an acceptable solution because he has not accurately solved the problem. On the other hand, a non-utilitarian would reject even the notion of deliberating about the act of murder in such a mathematical manner. He might contend that Rask ...