Utilitarianism A form of hedonist ethics known as Utilitarianism is the ethical system that follows the idea to pursue the greatest happiness for the greatest amount of people. This hedonist ethical system is a state of overall well-being and focuses on the intellectual, spiritual, and social aspects of happiness (Wilkens, 1995). Since the term utilitarianism derives from the idea of usefulness, so an action is deemed morally right if it succeeds or is useful in bringing about happiness. Happiness alone is perceived as intrinsically good, whereas unhappiness is the consequence of acts that are evil and not moral. Those who abide by utilitarianism evaluate the moral value of actions and institutions based upon their consequences and their
…show more content…
In his method of hedonistic calculus, or the felicific calculus, happiness is measured in a two-step process. The first step is quantifying pleasure into seven categories: intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity, and extent. In other words, the resulting happiness of an action is assessed by how intense the happiness is, how long it lasts, the probability of acquiring the happiness, how soon happiness will come, if it will lead to similar happiness, how much pain will come, and how many people are affected. The second step is then to compare the totals of the different options to see which one will bring about the greatest quantity of happiness for that will be the ethical …show more content…
Mills contends that qualitative utilitarianism is insufficient for it does not acknowledge that humans have “higher” and “lower desires”. The higher desires are associated with intellect and reason, whereas lower desires are associated with immediate and biological necessities and desires (“Lecture 5,” 2016; Wilkens, 1995). An issue that arises is that people would only know higher pleasures is if they have experienced them, so not all are in a position to be considered a competent judge of moral decisions. A fool would choose a lower desire for he has not experienced the higher desires, but those acquainted with the higher pleasures will not revert to the lower desires (Wilkens,
In his method of hedonistic calculus, or the felicific calculus, happiness is measured in a two-step process. The first step is quantifying pleasure into seven categories: intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity, and extent. In other words, the resulting happiness of an action is assessed by how intense the happiness is, how long it lasts, the probability of acquiring the happiness, how soon happiness will come, if it will lead to similar happiness, how much pain will come, and how many people are affected. The second step is then to compare the totals of the different options to see which one will bring about the greatest quantity of happiness for that will be the ethical …show more content…
Mills contends that qualitative utilitarianism is insufficient for it does not acknowledge that humans have “higher” and “lower desires”. The higher desires are associated with intellect and reason, whereas lower desires are associated with immediate and biological necessities and desires (“Lecture 5,” 2016; Wilkens, 1995). An issue that arises is that people would only know higher pleasures is if they have experienced them, so not all are in a position to be considered a competent judge of moral decisions. A fool would choose a lower desire for he has not experienced the higher desires, but those acquainted with the higher pleasures will not revert to the lower desires (Wilkens,