DaFranker comments on Does utilitarianism "require" extreme self sacrifice? If not why do people commonly say it does? - Less Wrong
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I think someone is still a utilitarian if instead of 2 they believe something like
2') One decision is morally better than another if it yields greater expected total utility.
(In particular, I don't think it's necessary for a moral theory to be based on a notion of moral requirement as opposed to one of moral preference.)
Um, what's the difference?
As ZankerH said, it leaves out the "required to make" part. Also, gjm's particular formulation of 2' makes a statement about comparisons between two given decisions, not a statement about the entire search space of possible decisions.