Utilitarianism is an influential moral theory that whether the actions of a person or government are right or wrong will depend on the effect of the action for the results it produces. There are act utilitarians, which take the actions, laws or policies of individual actions into consideration whereas rule utilitarian concentrate on the outcome of types of actions, such as stealing or taking a life. Utilitarians are of the belief system that the purpose of ethics and morality is to increase happiness and pleasure in life and to decrease the bad things that happen i.e. pain and unhappiness by not accepting moral systems based on traditions or customs or dictated to by religious leaders or even the supernatural (Baron, 2011).
Some early Classical …show more content…
There are other competing emotions and complex desires involved. Another issue arises in the element that most people are not out to maximize self-utility 100%. That would destroy our society as we know it. For example, a person coming from a 100% utilitarian mindset sees a beautiful 2-carat, diamond wedding ring on the hand of a woman coming out of a grocery store. If the utilitarian side dominates, the person desiring the ring would steal it, causing a whole array of problems including legal consequences such as jail time for taking a possession from another, insurance claim for the ring, emotional and possible physical harm to the person who was robbed, etc. The act is for the benefit of one, but certainly not for all.
Utilitarianism in government that only pursues maximizing welfare tends to lead to the government redistribution of income so each citizen can be “happy” living in the society. As you can see, not everyone benefits financially. In short, society will not benefit as a whole. That is the problem. Collectively, if the society does not benefit, then it causes pain for some and pleasure for others (Brink, 1986). No government can be fair and just to all its citizens and maximize welfare at the same time. It would be fair for some and destructive to others. “Human rights” would be violated for …show more content…
However, in not being able to measure the success of utilitarian with any tangible evidence makes it hard to convince any society to comply. In addition, there are other emotional and moral factors, sometimes many, for a human or a government to form any decision. The outcome is usually beneficial for some, but not for all. This creates an unfair and unjust society, which exactly what the utilitarian thinking is trying to prevent. It is not going to be easy or feasible for every member of society experience “good” or “just” movements from the same
Some early Classical …show more content…
There are other competing emotions and complex desires involved. Another issue arises in the element that most people are not out to maximize self-utility 100%. That would destroy our society as we know it. For example, a person coming from a 100% utilitarian mindset sees a beautiful 2-carat, diamond wedding ring on the hand of a woman coming out of a grocery store. If the utilitarian side dominates, the person desiring the ring would steal it, causing a whole array of problems including legal consequences such as jail time for taking a possession from another, insurance claim for the ring, emotional and possible physical harm to the person who was robbed, etc. The act is for the benefit of one, but certainly not for all.
Utilitarianism in government that only pursues maximizing welfare tends to lead to the government redistribution of income so each citizen can be “happy” living in the society. As you can see, not everyone benefits financially. In short, society will not benefit as a whole. That is the problem. Collectively, if the society does not benefit, then it causes pain for some and pleasure for others (Brink, 1986). No government can be fair and just to all its citizens and maximize welfare at the same time. It would be fair for some and destructive to others. “Human rights” would be violated for …show more content…
However, in not being able to measure the success of utilitarian with any tangible evidence makes it hard to convince any society to comply. In addition, there are other emotional and moral factors, sometimes many, for a human or a government to form any decision. The outcome is usually beneficial for some, but not for all. This creates an unfair and unjust society, which exactly what the utilitarian thinking is trying to prevent. It is not going to be easy or feasible for every member of society experience “good” or “just” movements from the same