Utilitarianism and the Disabled

Distributive issues involving the disabled arise in a number of settings. For utilitarians, a key divide is that between the distribution of life saving resources (hereinafter the distribution of life) and the distribution of non-life-saving resources (hereinafter the distribution of resources). In the distribution of resources between the disabled and the nondisabled, a utilitarian distributive policy is likely to have considerable intuitive ap peal, even to many opponents of utilitarianism. In the distribution of life between the disabled and the nondisabled, a utilitarian distributive policy has apparent implications that are counterintuitive and likely to be re sisted, even by many utilitarians.