utilitarianism

A detailed Summary of utilitarianism

The main idea of utilitarianism, according to Adam Morton's book Philosophy in Practice is to follow the action that "brings about the greatest amount of pleasure or the least amount of pain." This idea at first seems simple but when applied to some examples the edges blur. Millions of Americans love to watch football games, but lets say 200 people die a year playing this sport, and therefore the government wants to outlaw the sport all together. According to the concept above what would the utilitarian think? This is a type of example where it is uncertain to know what the utilitarian would do. Do millions of people's pleasure compare to the pain of the 200 football players' families? In this situation it is hard to say which "brings about the greatest amount of pleasure" and which brings about the least amount of pain. This is not the only problem with utilitarianism. There are other situations that arise in which if you were to follow the utilitarian view you would be going against some of your own moral beliefs. For instance the example in Morton's book; your best friend is devoted to a woman that despises him and she is married anyway. But your friend believes that she does really love him and if he

learned how she truly felt he would be heartbroken? He asks you to tell him how she really feels. Now thinking like a utilitarian you might be leaning towards either telling your friend that she really does love him or just evading the question, but what do your morals tell you to do? Personally I would be truthful to my friend and hope that in the end he would be better off knowing the truth.

The biggest social problem we have with utilitarianism is based on money. In most of the situations above the thing that brings about the most pleasure is the money. I think this is a big problem we face. So many people out there believe that money will bring about more pleasure and less pain, but that is not always the case. There are many people out there that find happiness in other things. Many people take pleasure in helping others. A bum for example, would most likely be happier when a person walks up to them, smiles and apologizes that they don't have any money on hand, mostly treating them as a person. Rather than someone scowling at his or her stench, while dropping change in a cup. A smile can make someone's day and that has nothing to do with money.

When you first think about utilitarianism you think many people must not use it. But actually many of its views are used everyday. The government is a big example of this. When the government receives extra money and it has to decide where it would be the most beneficial, it is using the idea of what "brings about the greatest amount of pleasure" to society. But sometimes the government gives this money to where it will please more people rather than where it is needed. This is a big difference. Just because society will be happier if the money is distributed to schools instead of to soup kitchens does not make it right. Another

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