Knight of Utilitarianism

Over the weekend I managed to, finally (actually not finally, I don't classify him as a superhero so was willing to wait for it to come onto video), managed to watch The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger, played a villain so sadistic that I can understand quite easily how he was driven to sleeping poorly, and losing health over the role! His role was convincing, more so than any previous rendition of a Batman villain (to my opinion). However the point here isn't to rave, it is to monologue upon a situation he put Batman in, hopefully I'm not spoiling the movie!

Our brave not-super-hero, had to choose between the woman he loved and the attorney who was going to save Gotham city. They were on the phone to each other, tied to barrels of gasoline rigged with explosives. 

Who was Batman to choose to save? (Because unlike Spiderman in a similar situation he could not save both.) Saving who he loved might reward him with the greatest good; his heart would be at east. Yet by doing so he condemns the city to more pain, and himself more pain as it is his chosen duty to defend the streets of Gotham. In the longterm he might face eternal heartache over his lost love but many people had the potential for increased happiness. 

Saving the attorney would keep many criminals in jails, would keep the organized crime syndicates of Gotham City on the run. Saving the attorney would save thousands. Batman made his choice. He didn't know the long-term effects. None of us ever could know the future. 

In a similar situation saving the attorney might indeed serve the greater good. Killing Hitler and the ten regular people he is in a room with might be better than killing a single regular person. Utilitarianism seems to offer clear cut answers, especially in these drastic situations. These situations aren't terribly common, and seem to go against the innate sense of wrong, that is commonly referred to as 'common sense'. 

At any rate Batman made his choice. I wonder what would have occurred had he made a different choice. Would pain and suffering be averted equivalent to what it saved? Was there no valid choice---did the Joker plan so well that no choice Batman could have made a choice resulting in happiness? 

~Jessica