Unit 2 Discussion Assignment 1. How is the lottery an example of the utilitarian monster? The lottery example in the readings this week could be considered a subject for the “utility monster” aspect of utilitarianism. Let’s consider there are two groups of people here, those on high incomes and those on lower incomes. It is possible here that one group of people, those on lower incomes are likely to get a high level of pleasure from the lottery than those on higher incomes. This being caused by the prospect of those on lower incomes obtaining wealth potentially, through participating in the lottery (Brusseau, 2012). 2. How can you set yourself up to argue in favor of, or against the ethical existence of the lottery in terms of monetized …show more content…
If we consider the large number of people involved in an action such as the lottery this could possibly involve a large portion of the population. So this would involve large numbers of people, and in turn, the vast sums of money involved in order for Monetized Utilitarianism to take place (Brusseau, 2012). 3. Lottery are about money and about fun – that is, even for the losers, there’s a benefit in the thrill of watching the numbers turn up. Could the case by made that, from a hedonistic utilitarian standpoint, the lottery is ethically recommendable because it serves the welfare not only of the winner but also the millions of losers? At the time of playing it perhaps would adhere to the hedonistic approach. However, we must consider that the welfare of the winner and the loser must be treated in different ways. To ethically consider the welfare of the loser there would need to be a limit on the initial stake, by restricting the number of tickets that an individual can purchase for each drawer. What must be remembered about the lottery is that, despite its noble intentions with charitable causes it is still ultimately, a form of