Essay
Utilitarianism
is an ethical theory in which
the rightness and
wrongness of acts are dependent
on facts concerning the maximization of the
total well-being. The phrase “the greatest good for the
greatest number” commonly gets associated
with utilitarianism. Utilitarianism typically demands that individuals act
in particular ways that lead to the biggest possible amount
of well-being. Well-being in this aspect gets
understood as closely related to happiness. Several scholars have
maintained that the theory of utility (the greatest happiness principle) meant the experience of pleasure together with freedom from pain and not something supposed to get contrasted with pleasure. The doctrine
whose basis of morals is utility declares that
actions are right in proportion if they
tend to improve the happiness of an individual, whereas wrong in proportion if they tend
to result in the opposite of happiness. Happiness in this context implies pleasure
and the absence of pain, whereas
unhappiness implies pain and the
absence of pleasure to
an individual.
Utilitarianism gets defined by five characteristics namely welfarism, individualism, consequentialism, aggregation, and maximization.
Welfarism refers to the
perspective that the badness and goodness of consequences, or state of affairs
is independent completely on facts regarding well-being.
Individualism refers to the
perspective that the sources of value that exist in the world are individuals (individuals referring to humans and animals). Consequentialism refers to the aspect that the rightness and wrongness
of acts are independent completely on facts concerning the outcome of actions. Aggregation refers to the aspect that the value of a state of affairs gets
determined by the
summation of the values
that get associated each in the state of affairs. Maximization refers to the perspective that it
is desirable for the value of the state of affairs to be as large as possible.
Utilitarianism principle faces numerous
challenges in its role of pursuing not only self-happiness but also happiness
for others. One of the
main challenges is that if every
person gets motivated solely by the desire for her happiness, then there is no reason
to assume that personal action will consequently promote the interests of society. Mill response was
that the
utilitarianism principle is not an agent
of self-happiness rather the
happiness of all who are concerned. In this principle, happiness is the utilitarian standard of what gets
seen as right so as to produce happiness
for all. As
between an individual’s happiness
and the happiness of other people, the utilitarianism principle requires the individual to become strictly impartial
like a disinterested and benevolent spectator. Mill states that
the best chance of serving and achieving the happiness of other people is through the complete sacrifice of one’s happiness. Mill also admits
that individuals willing and ready
to make a complete sacrifice for the happiness
of others possess the highest virtue for
a man.
The
gap between individual happiness and general
happiness has effectively
got addressed in the utilitarianism principle.
The principle requires us to act in a way that the rule basing our action can get adopted as law
by all rational beings. In organizing an individual’s life so as to maximize the chances of happiness, it is vital to follow
an indirect strategy whose purpose in not directly happiness. The purpose is, however,
to learn to care about different things for
one’s sake, and in which
caring will produce happiness.
In the pursuit of happiness for other
people, success gets attained by following
an indirect rather than a direct strategy.
Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in cheap term papers if you need a similar paper you can place your order from top research paper writing companies.
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