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Utilitarianism: The Greatest Happiness Principle

477 Words2 Pages

I personally strongly disagree with Utilitarianism in general, and especially with the Greatest Happiness principle. Personally I think many things are wrong with it, including the fact that people can’t see the future and determine the consequences of their actions, the fact that it allows immoral behavior in the name of increasing overall happiness, that it allows for government laws to be broken in order to increase overall happiness, and the way it disregards the motive behind an action. In theory it sounds like it would be a fair and moral ethical principle because it promotes the good of the majority, but when broken down I think the Greatest Happiness Principle has major flaws. The Greatest Happiness Principle is Mill's notion that any action that endorses happiness and/or the absence of pain is good or right. Actions …show more content…

I think the problem with this argument, however, is that there is no mention of motivation. So even if the intention behind the action is immoral, it would be considered moral if the majority preferred it. Even if a person is attempting to act according to Utilitarianism and an unforeseen event causes an action to fail, that person would still be considered immoral because their action caused pain even though it was unintentional. If this principle were actually enforced, no one in the world would be considered moral. The Greatest Happiness principle actually allows for the cause of pain so long as it is for the happiness of the majority. Additionally, The Greatest Happiness Principle disregards the importance of laws established by the government. Essentially, a murderer could still be considered a moral person if he/she just murdered all who disagreed with them. Murder is obviously illegal, but The Greatest Happiness Principle would disregard the importance of legality in this

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