In the above situation a utilitarian would say that stealing the cure is the best option. They would say this because a utilitarian believes that if the action maximizes the best consequences for the greatest number of people and all who would benefit from that action, then it is considered ethical. This would be called the greatest happiness principle. They also believe that an action is ethical if it reduces the suffering of the greatest number of people involved. So in your case stealing the cure would be the action with the greatest consequences because your wife won't die and the other doctor wouldn't suffer a big loss because he's already rich. But there is another form of utilitarianism that does not tolerate theft, it is called act utilitarianism. Action utilitarianism states that stealing is bad if there is no good reason to do so and if the happiness produced is as good as any other act that could be performed. In our situation, we are stealing for the well-being of our family and letting your wife not increase the happiness you would get if she lived. The above frameworks described support stealing care for your own good and happiness. Therefore, in this situation, ethical egoism and utilitarianism drastically favor each other. Is this the right path to take in these circumstances? Well, let's look at things in another