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Comparison Of Utilitarianism And The Greatest Happiness Principle

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Value and Criterion

Due to morality being referenced in the resolution, it is the core value that should be upheld in this debate. Morality is simply defined as “conforming to the rules of right conduct.” (1) The central query of the resolution is whether killing one innocent person to save more than one can be conforming to the rules of right conduct. The mechanism by which we can weigh morality, that is to say how we can determine what is morally permissible, is the greatest happiness principle; this is also known as Utilitarianism.

Utilitarianism and The Greatest Happiness Principle

Utilitarianism is grounded in the reality that all desires we have boil down to pleasure, and freedom from pain. All other things we desire, are extensions of these base desires. As John Stuart Mill states in his book entitled "Utilitarianism;" "The only proof capable of being given that an object is visible, is that people actually see it. The only proof that a sound is audible, is that people hear it... In like manner, I apprehend, the sole evidence it is possible to produce that anything is desirable, is that people do actually desire it." (2) This demonstrates that desires exists and that the ultimate desire is happiness. …show more content…

(The wrong thing to do is anything else.)”(4) The determining factor is not personal preference or belief, rather, it is

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