Alexis Stewart, the salty daughter of homemaking goddess Martha Stewart, in a new book, writes that her mother strived for television perfection but was not a perfect parent. If I didn't do something perfectly, I had to do it again, writes Stewart, 46. I grew up with a glue gun pointed at my head. Martha does everything better. You can't win!
utilitarianism. noun. 1  The belief that the value of a thing or an action is determined by its utility. 2  The ethical theory proposed by Jeremy Bentham and James Mill that all action should be directed toward achieving the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.
Utilitarianism believes that it is not the fault of any creed, but of the complicated nature of human affairs, that rules of conduct cannot be so framed as to require no exceptions. There is no ethical creed which does not temper the rigidity of its laws by giving a certain latitude, under the moral responsibility of the agent, for accommodations to peculiarities of circumstances. Utilitarianism, like all moral doctrines, recognizes unequivocal cases of conflicting obligations.