Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is the ethical theory proposed by John Stuart Mill that says all actions should be directed toward achieving the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Utilitarianism is a concept that holds an action to be held right if it tends to promote happiness for the greatest number of people. Utilitarianism is a tradition stemming from the late 18th- and 19th-century English philosophers and economists Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill that an action is right if it tends to promote happiness and wrong if it tends to produce the reverse of happiness; not just the happiness of the performer of the action but also that of everyone affected by it. Utilitarianism also differs from ethical theories that make the rightness or wrongness of an act dependent upon the motive of the agent; for, according to the Utilitarian, it is possible for the right thing to be done from a bad motive (http://www.britannica.com).

Utilitarianism defines the morally right actions as those actions that maximize some good or happiness and minimize some evil. Pleasure is an example of something considered good and pain is an example of something that would be considered evil. A utilitarian will focus on the consequences of an act rather than on the essential nature of the act or the motives. To sum it up, utilitarianism focuses on ends rather than actions.

Utilitarianism is all about making the right choices that will consequently promote the greatest amount of happiness.

Pamela is walking through a forest and happens to come across a man who is about to kill five people. The man tells her that if she kills one of those people, he will let the other four go free. Pamela has reason to believe he will keep his promise. Mill would say to kill one person and let the other four be able to live.

If Mill is going to obey his own theory he would say that only killing one person would be less harmful than killing all four of the people. If having one person die in contrast to having all five die a utilitarian would chose to kill one person and save four people. Mill’s decision would be solely based upon his own theory of promoting happiness to the greatest number of people.

Personally I do not agree with Mill’s theory. What is good for the majority is no necessarily good for the minority. Just because one is not in the majority group does not mean they do not have rights either. Always pleasing the greatest number of people is not always the right thing to do.

When a utilitarian if faced with a problem they have the right considerations but do not give a realistic way to gather the right information to make the right decision. There is not enough information in evaluating the welfare of an issue along with the consequences that may or may not go along with the decision.