Study Document
Mill's Principle of Utility Mill Essay
Pages:2 (632 words)
Sources:1
Subject:Government
Topic:Utilitarianism
Document Type:Essay
Document:#57911227
Do you consider Utilitarianism to be the way we ought to determine right and wrong? Why or why not?
I disagree with Utilitariasnim as moral instrument on the grounds that Utilitarianism may, paradoxically, be harmful in that it focuses on the influence of pleasure or pain to the greatest amount of people. In that way, it strikes me as being an incomplete measure for ethics, since (using a hypothetical situation) the majority of people of a specific nation may have pleasure from seeing a minority, who happen to be mentally disabled, annihilated, on the grounds that the majority may have to pay taxes to support this minority. According to Utilitarianism, the majority wins and the minority is annihilated.
Pleasure also assumes various formats including immediate vs. mediate pleasure. Oftentimes, the more immediate types of pleasure are deferred for the longer-term categories (such as saving for the future) that are seen to possess greater, more genuine value. Yet those benefiting from the pleasure in the future might, firstly, be a minority and, secondly, be a population who might perceive the pleasure to be otherwise than that. Should not the present majority, therefore, benefit from their perceived immediate pleasure. Taking a hypothetical situation, concern of caring for the environment for future generations cause many individuals to relinquish various desires (such as buying a certain model of car). Yet, theoretically, the future far-off generation that benefits from this orientation may (a) be quantifiably smaller than the present one and (b) be living in a period when environmental warming has been found to be disproved. Scientific allegations are continuously modified. Should not the present generation - in this case, the certain majority - satisfy themselves on the certainty that they will benefit from their indulgences.
References
Rosen, Frederick. Classical Utilitarianism from Hume to Mill. USA: Routledge,…
Sample Source(s) Used
References
Rosen, Frederick. Classical Utilitarianism from Hume to Mill. USA: Routledge, 2003.
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