Introduction:
According to Webster, utilitarianism is defined by “the theory that the aim of action should be the largest possible balance of pleasure over pain or the greatest number” (Merriam-Webster, 1). John Stuart Mill published Utilitarianism in 1861, in which he introduced a reinforced version of utilitarianism. His idea of utilitarianism presumes that all human kind should act in a way that only actions that benefit a vast amount of happiness or quantity should be acted upon. Given this, I will argue that utilitarianism is way too demanding and therefore unrealistic. I will begin by presenting several points that Mill states in his book Utilitarianism by looking at his idea about the greatest happiness principle, higher and lower …show more content…
Argument: Mill discuss about the idea of the higher and lower pleasures of life in his writings. Mill had said in his argument that “It is better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied” (Mill, 7). Mill believes that a human being would interpret pleasure with a higher conscious of satisfaction than would a pig. He continues his argument with “It is better to be a Socrates dissatisfied than a fool …show more content…
Mills starts his argument by explaining the concept of the greatest happiness principle. The greatest happiness principle is set to hold that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, and wrong in action as they tend to promote the reverse happiness (Mill, 5). In this argument, when does oneself ever get to act in benefit of their own. What if promoting happiness never includes your fair share of happiness. Humans would be in a never ending cycle of selflessness. What if one's happiness kept getting overlooked by all. But you are conscious of where you stand, and the greatest happiness stops applying to you. An example to this would be a teacher has an orange, and 6 students. The teacher opens the orange and she has exactly 6 slices of orange. What would result of the greatest happiness principle if giving all six slices away would result in 6 total smiles, or having the orange to herself an adult who is mentally mature, and conscious of having had the orange. For these reasons I believe that utilitarianism is way too demanding, and that there is an alternate to acting to be selfless to one's own
According to Webster, utilitarianism is defined by “the theory that the aim of action should be the largest possible balance of pleasure over pain or the greatest number” (Merriam-Webster, 1). John Stuart Mill published Utilitarianism in 1861, in which he introduced a reinforced version of utilitarianism. His idea of utilitarianism presumes that all human kind should act in a way that only actions that benefit a vast amount of happiness or quantity should be acted upon. Given this, I will argue that utilitarianism is way too demanding and therefore unrealistic. I will begin by presenting several points that Mill states in his book Utilitarianism by looking at his idea about the greatest happiness principle, higher and lower …show more content…
Argument: Mill discuss about the idea of the higher and lower pleasures of life in his writings. Mill had said in his argument that “It is better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied” (Mill, 7). Mill believes that a human being would interpret pleasure with a higher conscious of satisfaction than would a pig. He continues his argument with “It is better to be a Socrates dissatisfied than a fool …show more content…
Mills starts his argument by explaining the concept of the greatest happiness principle. The greatest happiness principle is set to hold that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, and wrong in action as they tend to promote the reverse happiness (Mill, 5). In this argument, when does oneself ever get to act in benefit of their own. What if promoting happiness never includes your fair share of happiness. Humans would be in a never ending cycle of selflessness. What if one's happiness kept getting overlooked by all. But you are conscious of where you stand, and the greatest happiness stops applying to you. An example to this would be a teacher has an orange, and 6 students. The teacher opens the orange and she has exactly 6 slices of orange. What would result of the greatest happiness principle if giving all six slices away would result in 6 total smiles, or having the orange to herself an adult who is mentally mature, and conscious of having had the orange. For these reasons I believe that utilitarianism is way too demanding, and that there is an alternate to acting to be selfless to one's own