Essay On John Stuart Mills Utilitarianism

Throughout our lives, we are given various choices throughout the day that have some sort of impact on us, large or small. The amazing thing about these choices is that we can decide which choice to make. Most often, people decide on how to make these choices based on their wants and desires at the time. People, religion, and cultures allow this type of decision making to occur but often hail good ethical thinking as the best way to use in decision making. Philosophers throughout history have intrigued upon newer and diverse ways in ethical thinking and swear that theirs is the way people should look at the world. The English philosopher, John Stuart Mills promoted “Utilitarianism”, an ethical theory that stated that actions and decisions should only be made if it maximizes pleasure and minimizes pain. To Mills, society should apply this theory in all forms of choice, even if the matter in life or death. For example, in the healthcare field, a provision called VSED (Voluntarily stopping eating and drinking) exists in which a person with a debilitating disease can sign to shorten the time is takes for death to arrive if they are unable to communicate …show more content…
Short-term suffering if VSED is taken would include a potential for intense suffering for the sick person. A person with dementia will likely but unaware of the situation that they are put into and resist. While sedatives for VSED may help, the true pain the person may be in could be unavailable to a health care professional as the person cannot express themselves. During the process of VSED, the person could be in a state of extreme pain and discomfort, unknown to those amongst them. The long-term suffering of VSED would be towards the family as they would not be able to send more time with their loved one because of the quicken