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Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment: Raskolnikov's Mathematical Evaluation of Moral Dilemma Presented To Him Exemplifies The Empirical View of Utilitarianism "One death, and a thousand lives in exchange--it's simple arithmetic." -Raskolnikov Ras ....

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... right. Raskolnikov arbitrarily leaves out some necessary considerations in his moral “equation” that do not adhere to utilitarianism. A utilitarian would argue that Raskolnikov has not reached an acceptable solution because he has not accurately solved the problem. On the other hand, a non-utilitarian would reject even the notion of deliberating about the act of murder in such a mathematical manner. He might contend that Raskolnikov's reasoning, and the entire theory of utilitarianism, cannot be used to judge morality because it rejects individual rights and contains no moral absolutes. A utilitarian bases his belief upon two principl ...