Utilitarianism and Integrity
Utilitarianism is the idea that people should make decisions based on the greater happiness of everyone, and forget their own wants and needs. The first example where utilitarianism conflicts with character is the one Bernard Williams gives of George; George is a struggling out of work dad and husband and is presented with a job in biological warfare. The kind of work involved does not align with his values; his wife is the only one working and straining to support and feed their young kids. Should he take the job and sacrifice his values for his family’s sake or deny the job and stand his ground with integrity while his wife and kids continue to suffer? The second example would be of Jim; he is a young man traveling …show more content…
If people were able to plan every experience they wanted for a span of two years of pure happiness and fulfillment, would they truly be missing out on real life? In a way the “experience machine” is like utilitarianism; utilitarian people live basing their decisions on others happiness and forget their own views and morals, almost trying to live in a perfectly blissful world. In the experience machine, a person would most likely only ever choose events that were pleasing, and they would never get to make difficult decisions that reveal their true character. Humanity would not truly make a difference in the REAL world since people would never be faced with adversity in this dream land causing them to not really know what their true values, or weaknesses were and in the same way, when a person conforms to utilitarianism, they give up the things that make them who they are, their values, morals, …show more content…
Even though George needed to help his struggling family, taking a job that required him to go against his morals was not a good one. Physically, he would be living comfortably, but when he laid down each night, he would struggle knowing that he was not living his truth. The same goes for Jim’s incident, if anyone were to be put into the position of killing one and saving themselves plus 19 others, or just accepting that they may die, many would choose the latter. If these men were to go along with consequentialism, they would lose a part of themselves, one day at a time. Jim’s guilt of knowing he killed someone to save his own life would eat at him, as well as George’s decision to actively work somewhere he did not approve of. Consequentialism wants people to put aside any sense of self they have and do things for the greater good, but clearly in Jim and George’s situation, consequentialism is not the way to go. Consequentialism is right in wanting to make decisions for the greater happiness, but not when it comes to these intense situations. Though consequentialism SOUNDS appealing, it is not a realistic view, in some instances it may work to better a situation, but not in
Utilitarianism is the idea that people should make decisions based on the greater happiness of everyone, and forget their own wants and needs. The first example where utilitarianism conflicts with character is the one Bernard Williams gives of George; George is a struggling out of work dad and husband and is presented with a job in biological warfare. The kind of work involved does not align with his values; his wife is the only one working and straining to support and feed their young kids. Should he take the job and sacrifice his values for his family’s sake or deny the job and stand his ground with integrity while his wife and kids continue to suffer? The second example would be of Jim; he is a young man traveling …show more content…
If people were able to plan every experience they wanted for a span of two years of pure happiness and fulfillment, would they truly be missing out on real life? In a way the “experience machine” is like utilitarianism; utilitarian people live basing their decisions on others happiness and forget their own views and morals, almost trying to live in a perfectly blissful world. In the experience machine, a person would most likely only ever choose events that were pleasing, and they would never get to make difficult decisions that reveal their true character. Humanity would not truly make a difference in the REAL world since people would never be faced with adversity in this dream land causing them to not really know what their true values, or weaknesses were and in the same way, when a person conforms to utilitarianism, they give up the things that make them who they are, their values, morals, …show more content…
Even though George needed to help his struggling family, taking a job that required him to go against his morals was not a good one. Physically, he would be living comfortably, but when he laid down each night, he would struggle knowing that he was not living his truth. The same goes for Jim’s incident, if anyone were to be put into the position of killing one and saving themselves plus 19 others, or just accepting that they may die, many would choose the latter. If these men were to go along with consequentialism, they would lose a part of themselves, one day at a time. Jim’s guilt of knowing he killed someone to save his own life would eat at him, as well as George’s decision to actively work somewhere he did not approve of. Consequentialism wants people to put aside any sense of self they have and do things for the greater good, but clearly in Jim and George’s situation, consequentialism is not the way to go. Consequentialism is right in wanting to make decisions for the greater happiness, but not when it comes to these intense situations. Though consequentialism SOUNDS appealing, it is not a realistic view, in some instances it may work to better a situation, but not in