Suppose there are 100 people living in the town of sadistville. 98 of them are sadists – they really really enjoy causing other people pain and watching other people in pain. the other two people (sally and jeff) are neither sadists nor are they masochists. they don’t like being in pain. nevertheless, the 98 sadists of the town come up with a plan where they will kidnap jeff and sally, lock them in a basement and torture them, keeping them alive for many many years if they can while causing them lots of pain. this plan would cause sally and jeff a lot of misery, but it would make those 98 sadists really really really happy. if, on the other hand, they don’t go through with this plan, the reverse will be true (sally and jeff will be very happy, everyone else will be very unhappy.) according to utilitarianism, the action of kidnapping and torturing jeff and sally is:
(a) morally wrong, and thus forbidden,
(b) morally permissible, but not morally required,
(c) morally good and morally required,
(d) morally neutral