The table shows how much total Jeremy and John Stuart experience from various amounts of income
a. There are $6 that we can distribute between Jeremy and
John Stuart. Suppose that Jeremy and John Stuart live in a
utilitarian society that tries to distribute income in such a
way as to create the greatest sum of the total utility of
each member. How can we distribute $6 between Jeremy
and John Stuart so that the sum of their total utilities is
the greatest?
b. Now Jeremy falls ill, and his illness requires expensive
treatment. As a result, the utility he gets from each dollar
of income is now only half of what the table above shows.
If our aim is to distribute income in such a way as to create the greatest sum of the total utility of both Jeremy and
John Stuart, how should we distribute the $6 now? Does
this seem fair to you?