Why Is John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism

I’ll start by saying that Utilitarianism is the thought that some action is acceptable as long as they will bring more happiness over pain. Mills believed that the best decisions are the decisions that is going to give the most happiness and because of this he was very much criticized many found him selfish. When it came to his principle on greatest happiness he thought that the most moral action is the action that will bring on the most happiness, even if this meant a personal lost for one certain person. So for example if I am in a bank that is being robbed and I am the closet to the emergency call button but I know if I get up to press the button there is an extremely high chance that the robber will shoot me dead but I also know that if I can get to the button I will save the majority of my co-workers and only lose my own life. Mill thought that in similar situations like this we have to stop and think where will there be more happiness. So in this case if I was to hold back …show more content…
If the choice, we needed to make fit into something we would want as a universal law then it would be considered a categorical imperative. The categorical imperative could be compared to what Jesus says to us when he says” Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Kant just wants us to stop and think before we react to a situation and wonder if it was something we would want for everyone to do.
In the question asked above asking whether it would be morally acceptable to torture the victim I believe the answer Kant would give is no it is not acceptable. Kant would argue that torture the suspect isn’t something he would want done to himself nor everyone doing to each