John Stuart Mill was a London born ethicist that changed the way the world thought about ethics. His life spanned from 1806 to 1873 and in his sixty-seven years of life, he took the philosophical ethics of Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates, and flipped it on its head. Mill took a scientific approach to and believed there was only one correct ethics, much like there is only one correct chemistry or physics. To him, that most correct ethics was, and still is, Utilitarianism. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, utilitarianism is “a doctrine that the useful is the good and that the determining consideration of right conduct should be the usefulness of its consequences”. This is incredibly applicable to the life of a forensic scientist. …show more content…
Michael Schefczyk, author of the portion of the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy on John Stuart Mill said that most humans are incapable of recognizing objectively right actions. “Take for example, the case of murder” (Mill, p.158). There are many murderers out there and to kill them would doing a service to humanity. They were the cause of noting but pain and suffering that brought about a general unhappiness in the world. To rid the world of them through capital punishment would have consequences that only bettered the world, making the act objectively right. However, “If it were thought allowable for anyone to put to death at pleasure any human being whom he believes that the world would be well rid of—no body’s life would be safe” (Mill, p.158). To allow the assassination of anyone that has wronged anyone else result of a planet void of human life. It is much better to have a general rule banning people from murder, for that would result in the greatest happiness of the most people. This situation also applies to the formation of a code of ethics in the forensics lab. Creating general rules that keep the most people behaved and happy is the best way to …show more content…
John Stuart Mill believes Utilitarianism has everything to do with human rights and the actions he made in his lifetime back up his theory. Mill was an advocate for women’s rights and suffrage and often spoke publicly about these issues. He said in his book that having a right is having something that society will fight for him to keep, “I can give no other reason for this than general utility” (p.54). When it comes to joining together to make safe the groundwork of our existence and protecting the basic rights of others, people have intense feelings of duty. The unjust act of stripping someone of their rights inspires disgust and outrage among all