Mills
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In this paper I shall explore the reasons behind why utility should be considered the “ultimate appeal on ethical questions,” as stated by Mill, and in ethical situations. In life, we should look to attain the greatest overall quality of life, which is done through obtaining happiness within ourselves. However, at the same time it is important to consider the pleasure of others as they, theoretically, would be doing the same for us. If people started to try and take advantage of others living this way and decided to become Ðfree-riders, eventually the utilitarian system would break down and we would be left with a selfish world. This is why its maintenance is so important.
Before continuing, I should give a definition of what I am referring to when speaking of utilitarianism. Taking the term literally, maximum utility results when the following process is undertaken: 1) look at the state of the world after each action made. Look in particular at the level of happiness experienced by people in each of their situations. 2) Add up, somehow, those levels of happiness experienced in each case. 3) And lastly, compare the results. The one that leads to the most amount of total happiness is the “right” one.
When discussing utility in his book titled Utilitarianism written in 1863, Mill states:
“Right and wrong, as well as truth and falsehood, are questions of observation and experienceÐmorality must be deduced from principlesthere ought to be some one fundamental principle or law, at the root of all morality, or if there be several, there should be a determinate order of precedence among them; and the one principle, or the rule for deciding between the various principles when they conflict, ought to be self-evident.”
I find much importance in this statement because it seems so true. What we determine to be right or wrong comes from how we were brought up. Mill also states, “moral feelings are not innate, but acquired.” For example, I was raised in a family that believed that to go to church as many Sundays as possible was very important. However, to another person this could be less crucial if their parents raised them as, say, atheists. It seems like the beliefs of those who had the most impact on us as we grew up are the ones imbedded in us. Though this is fine for many, problems may arise when dealing in a situation where two people are dealing with one another in an ethical situation and the two individuals were raised in families of totally separated beliefs. If we had a certain set of rules where everyone had to follow them we would have no problems, assuming all these principles were agreed upon. Thus, making it easier to live our lives. But, of course, this is not the case, and therefore utilitarianism is the best clarifier for arising issues.
One of the things that makes utilitarianism credible is the fact that many of the things that people would consider in situations are universally believed to be either bad or good. These are topics that are highly uncontroversial when considering their worth to others. For example, things that are widely assumed to be “bad” are rape, murder, lying, and theft, and things that are “good” are generosity, healing, truthfulness, and loyalty. In exceptional cases regarding the above topics, it is usually clear that they are, in fact, exceptions because excuses are made. Another thing argued to be universally similar between these subjects, at least the negative ones, is the ones that are worst cause the most suffering. For example, rape causes psychological trauma as well as physical harm to an individual, whereas theft does neither of these. Therefore, theft is better than rape.
As seen from this, utilitarianism does a pretty good job at indicating to us what the “right answers” are. Also, this tells us something that makes us happy is better than something that does not. However, in many cases this applies and could not always be argued that it gives us the “morally right” answers. After all, it would make me happier to go out at night than to stay in and watch television, however that does not mean that it is a