 According to standard consequentialism, combined with this theory of intrinsic value, “distribution does not matter.” All that matters, for determining whether an act is right, is the sum total of the welfare in the world that would be actual if that act were performed, and how that sum total differs from the totals in the worlds that would be actual if some alternative act were performed; it does not matter how good any particular individual’s life is. John Rawls famously argued that this is an objectionable feature of the theory (Rawls 1971, 26; his target is a slightly different theory of intrinsic value). 