Utilitarianism is slowly gaining popularity in the world of philosophy as a normative theory and has been stirring up a lot of debate amongst people from all walks of life. Normative theories of ethics work by presenting one key principle as the main criterion on the basis of which a human being's actions are judged to be good or bad. That limits its overall view because it is never that easy to distinguish between the two in a world where all lines are slowly blurring. The principle itself can be unstable and unreliable, which would make it impossible to use it as a yardstick.
Utilitarianism dictates our sole objective should be to establish the best balance possible between good and bad through our daily actions. Good should always be more …show more content…
We get an about the degree of wickedness or goodness of an action through the consequences that follow. For example, when a woman is murdered brutally there is no justification for the act. However, if the murderer killed her unborn child unwittingly as well, the action gets even worse because of this added consequence. The Thief's Journal, from Jean Genet, who was a thief himself, perfectly illustrates this point. The most intriguing aspect of the novel The Thief’s Journal is of its inversion of morality. Here, Genet – the ‘anti-hero’ in the book talks about betrayal as the utmost form of ‘devotion’; believes that only those men doomed to evil possess the manly virtues and feels that the forbidden universe of a criminal offers solace to him. The novel deals with a series of homosexual love affairs between the author and various criminals, con artists, pimps, and even a detective. Genets espouses another form of ‘sainthood’ in the novel– that of evil, with its own set of values- that of homosexuality, theft and betrayal. Stealing and burglary are never followed by guilt or a feeling of injustice, instead he likes the feeling of anticipation of getting caught and going to jail. Here is a writer who advocates the evil as the purest and justifies it with statements like this: “That ultimate point to which the censure of men leads was to appear to me the ideal place for the purest that is the most turbid harmony, where illustrious ash-weddings are celebrated.” The book is a great working out of an aesthetic of degradation and sometimes we find ourselves liking a world whose morals we dislike and hate. The book charts his progress from Spain through Europe in the
Utilitarianism dictates our sole objective should be to establish the best balance possible between good and bad through our daily actions. Good should always be more …show more content…
We get an about the degree of wickedness or goodness of an action through the consequences that follow. For example, when a woman is murdered brutally there is no justification for the act. However, if the murderer killed her unborn child unwittingly as well, the action gets even worse because of this added consequence. The Thief's Journal, from Jean Genet, who was a thief himself, perfectly illustrates this point. The most intriguing aspect of the novel The Thief’s Journal is of its inversion of morality. Here, Genet – the ‘anti-hero’ in the book talks about betrayal as the utmost form of ‘devotion’; believes that only those men doomed to evil possess the manly virtues and feels that the forbidden universe of a criminal offers solace to him. The novel deals with a series of homosexual love affairs between the author and various criminals, con artists, pimps, and even a detective. Genets espouses another form of ‘sainthood’ in the novel– that of evil, with its own set of values- that of homosexuality, theft and betrayal. Stealing and burglary are never followed by guilt or a feeling of injustice, instead he likes the feeling of anticipation of getting caught and going to jail. Here is a writer who advocates the evil as the purest and justifies it with statements like this: “That ultimate point to which the censure of men leads was to appear to me the ideal place for the purest that is the most turbid harmony, where illustrious ash-weddings are celebrated.” The book is a great working out of an aesthetic of degradation and sometimes we find ourselves liking a world whose morals we dislike and hate. The book charts his progress from Spain through Europe in the