Theory of Utilitarianism

By John Middleton

I think John Stuart Mill said it best, “The utilitarian doctrine is that happiness is desirable,

and the only thing desirable, as an end; all others things being desirable as means to that end.”

This is the basic philosophy of what encapsulates Utilitarianism. This theory is closely related to

consequentialist moral theory, which demands that all decisions are formed solely on their

consequences. An early philosophy that has some of the same ideas as utilitarianism is

hedonism. Hedonism came about around 300 B.C. It gave pain a disvalue and pleasures a

positive value. This was the basis for this philosophy. Later in the 1700 century this train of

thought reemerged. Most of the leading philosophies were based on pleasing god and adhering

to divine rules. Jeremy Bentham, a revolutionary thinker, formed the principle of utility. The

principle of utility simple states it is priority to act always as to promote the greatest general

happiness.

First of all, happiness needs to be defined first so it can be understood what utilitarianism is

striving after. Happiness is the presence of pleasure and the absence of pain both physical and

psychological. To promote happiness is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. Also it just

isn’t personal happiness; it is measured by overall happiness created by ones action. For

example, if I had to make a decision that would benefit only a few people or one that would

create happiness for many. The utilitarian choice would be to promote the most happiness by

spreading happiness to many. Calculating the greatest amount of happiness can be a vague

concept. I think it can be summed up in four steps.

1. Determine who will be affected the action or actions

2. Determine what the expected happiness created will be for each persons affected

3. Add up the total happiness (if you could put a value on happiness created)

4. Repeat for each possible course of action, and do that action with the highest expected

happiness overall

There are a couple different forms of Utilitarianism. The first is Act-Utilitarianism.

This form of utilitarianism applies the Principle of Utility to individual acts. On the other hand,

there is Rule-Utilitarianism. This applies the Principle of Utility to policies of action. It also may

help to explain what aspects of utilitarianism aren’t considered to get a grasp of what it is. In the

theory of utilitarianism, justice, right, and backward reasoning aren’t considered.

Now that we have a grasp of what it is. Let’s look at some of the advantages and

disadvantages of this theory. There are a few down falls for just considering the consequences as

a means of making decisions. The first objection to this theory is it is too demanding.

Utilitarianism calls us to view everybody as equals including ourselves. It also demands us to

give up luxuries if it creates greater happiness for the community as a whole. The second

downfall is it doesn’t take into account personal relationships. In making decisions,

utilitarianism doesn’t warrant a bias toward family. This is a huge hurdle for this theory. It

seems like human nature to care for loved ones and protect their interest over strangers. In

contrast to the disadvantages, there are also good points to utilitarianism. One argument for

utilitarianism is based on the idea that all decisions are utility in nature and that if decisions are

weighted on all the consequences then the outcome will be good.

In conclusion to the ideas presented in this paper, I personally believe that this theory is

good to live by. But I don’t think that it is a complete solution to every problem. The obvious

obstacle I see is the issue that everyone must make the decision for the greater good of the

people, which is a naive assumption to make. I believe there are many ways to solve problems

and each problem may warrant a different approach. Utilitarianism is a good theory to go by and

I generally think works in most scenarios but it doesn’t possess all the answers to all the

problems.