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Sandel's Two Objections To Utilitarianism

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Sandel’s two objections to utilitarianism are individual rights and a common currency of value. Sandel’s first objection is individual rights as he believes that utilitarianism does not respect individual rights because utilitarianism deals with total utility or sum of satisfactions (37). Hence, utilitarianism does not focus on the individual but rather what the majority, finds the most satisfying or pleasurable. The second objection Sandel has to utilitarianism is a common currency of value. Sandel states, “All values can’t be captured by a common currency of value” (41). He states that the idea of cost benefit analysis is flawed. In the cases he presents, cost benefit analysis is used to calculate the total monetary utility for governments and big businesses. However this idea is morally unjust because it is not morally permissible to …show more content…

John Stuart Mill’s notion of higher pleasures addresses the utilitarian criticism of a common currency of value or in other words, the notion that utilitarianism reduces all values to a single scale. Bentham’s utilitarianism is hedonistic in that he believes that all pleasures/preferences are equal. Mill’s approach is different and more eudemonistic. Sandel points out the example of Romans throwing Christians to the lions from earlier in the book and states that it would be better to change the preferences the Romans have of seeing something so perverse rather than to satisfy the pleasures gained from viewing something so vile. According to Bentham all pleasure is equal as he states that “pleasure is pleasure and pain is pain” (52).However the pleasure that the onlookers receive from such a thing is perverse and not a positive pleasure such as the pleasure you receive from exercising. Mill takes a slightly different stance compared to Bentham. Mill, unlike Bentham, does not believe that all pleasures are equal and that you can differentiate higher pleasure

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In Defense of Utilitarianism, J.S. Mill In the excerpt from John Stuart Mill’s book, Utilitarianism, Mill defends the utilitarian theory against three different objections. The first, and strongest opposition to utilitarianism was the accusation that the emphasis on the pursuit of pleasure makes utilitarianism “a doctrine worthy of swine.” This was my favorite argument because Mill defended it so well stating that there are varying degrees of pleasure. He refers to them as “high” and “low” pleasures, which I do agree with.

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Consequentialism is defined as the actions that should be more evaluated on the basis of the consequences. However, it’s the results from that particular consequence that actually strikes a nerve. In the mindset of utilitarian’s consequences focus on the happiness and pleasure of that particular end result. The understanding that the consequences are so good that it outweighs the negativity; maximizing happiness for all. However, for people such as Bernard Williams we shouldn’t regard consequences as happiness or pleasure for the multitude of people, but rather the happiness within ourselves.

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The context of the paper is discussion of why utilitarianism is consistently appealing. As Foot

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In the reading, "Utilitarianism," the author argues that happiness is the main criteria for morality since people base their actions off of the overall happiness it could promote (pp. 195 and 198) and that while actions differ in the quantity and quality of pleasure, pleasurable actions that require intellect are of the higher pleasures (pp. 196-197).   One of the author’s main reasons to support his view is that morality is determined by what increases or decreases the overall amount of utility (pp. 197). Mill denounces the view of utilitarianism as a selfish, unsympathetic ideology by stating that it could only be best used if everyone could promote utility, and he uses the Greatest Happiness Principle, in which he explains that actions

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Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that focuses on outcomes and consequences. When one considers the theory of utilitarianism, it must be understood that the pleasure is a fundamental moral good and the aim is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. So, when a human is going through the decision making process it is of the utmost importance to look forward at the consequences of the decision and determine if the decision will maximize pleasure and minimize pain. John Stuart Mill, a nineteenth century philosopher focused on the theory of utilitarianism or the Greatest Happiness Principle and claimed that the maximization of happiness for the greatest quantity of people is the ultimate goal. One issue that we face in modern day America that

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Utilitarianism is the moral theory that the action that people should take it the one that provides the greatest utility. In this paper I intend to argue that utilitarianism is generally untenable because act and rule utilitarianism both have objections that prove they cannot fully provide the sure answer on how to make moral decisions and what will be the ultimate outcome. I intend to do this by defining the argument for act and rule utilitarianism, giving an example, presenting the objections to act and rule utilitarianism and proving that utilitarianism is untenable. Both act and rule utilitarianism attempt to argue that what is right or wrong can be proven by what morally increases the well being of people. Act utilitarianism argues that

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Smart also discusses how act-Utilitarianism is often associated with hedonism, and that

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The main principle of utilitarianism is happiness. People who follow this theory strive to fulfill the “ultimate good”. The “ultimate good” is defined as ultimate pleasure with out any pain. It is said that the pleasure can be of any quantity and any quality, but pleasures that are weighted more important are put at a higher level than others that are below it. This ethical theory also states that if society would fully embrace utilitarianism then people would naturally realize their moral standing in the

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A man by the name of John Stuart Mill seems to be able to give us some answers to these questions. Mill starts our inquiring journey with defining what utilitarianism stands for. In short he states that it is the construction of utility, which claims that the actions that stimulate happiness in is morally fit and vice versa to be unfit. Happiness is something that we want for

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