RT Article T1 What the Utilitarian Cannot Think JF Ethical theory and moral practice VO 18 IS 4 SP 717 OP 729 A1 Nelson, Mark T. LA English PB Springer Science + Business Media B. V YR 2015 UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1565699319 AB I argue that utilitarianism cannot accommodate a basic sort of moral judgment that many people want to make. I raise a real-life example of shockingly bad behavior and ask what can the utilitarian say about it. I concede that the utilitarian can say that this behavior caused pain to the victim; that pain is bad; that the agent’s behavior was impermissible; even that the agent’s treatment of the victim was vicious. However, there is still one thing the utilitarian cannot say, namely that the agent wronged the victim, that they violated her. According to utilitarianism, moral offenses are offenses against global utility, right reason or the totality of sentient beings, but never against individual victims, yet this aspect of the action - that it is an offense against a particular person -is highlighted when we say that this action wronged that woman. K1 Adams K1 Quinn K1 Utilitarianism K1 Violation K1 Wolterstorff K1 Wrongness DO 10.1007/s10677-015-9599-z