Happiness and Utilitarianism
Dark Side of Utilitarianism
According to Bentham, an English moral philosopher and legal reformer, the highest principle of morality is to maximize happiness, the overall balance of pleasure over pain. This principle explains the Utilitarianism doctrine that is mostly the solution of everyone in every century. Utilitarianism can bring the most benefit for people. In contrast, throughout the three stories “Justice” by John Stuart Mill, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, and “The One who Walks Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guinn, it is easy to see that utilitarianism mostly requires sacrifice that indirectly leads to dehumanization and repression of the individual voice. In the book “Justice”, the famous English Philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) mentions about Bentham’s Utilitarianism theory. Bentham believes that “the highest principle of morality is to maximize happiness, the overall balance of pleasure over pain” (Mill, 34). However, Mill wisely demonstrates several situations that are solved based on the utilitarianism theory which leads to sacrifice and dehumanization. One of Mill’s most effective examples is the lifeboat. The four English sailors and a cabin boy were stranded at sea in a small lifeboat in the South Atlantic after their ship has gone in a storm. The five people stayed bravely on the boat for 18 days without food and water, but then the four other sailors killed and ate the cabin boy who was being sick on the 19th day in order to survive. On the 24th day, they got rescued and were arrested. Applying the Utilitarianism theory, killing one person to save the other four people is the only option they have that can maximize the happiness with the least lost. On the other hand, the cabin boy was forced to sacrifice his life in this situation. He did not choose to die neither the four sailors did not have his assent to kill him. He was forced to sacrifice his own life to save the sailors and was eaten cruelly. The sacrifice of the
According to Bentham, an English moral philosopher and legal reformer, the highest principle of morality is to maximize happiness, the overall balance of pleasure over pain. This principle explains the Utilitarianism doctrine that is mostly the solution of everyone in every century. Utilitarianism can bring the most benefit for people. In contrast, throughout the three stories “Justice” by John Stuart Mill, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, and “The One who Walks Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guinn, it is easy to see that utilitarianism mostly requires sacrifice that indirectly leads to dehumanization and repression of the individual voice. In the book “Justice”, the famous English Philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) mentions about Bentham’s Utilitarianism theory. Bentham believes that “the highest principle of morality is to maximize happiness, the overall balance of pleasure over pain” (Mill, 34). However, Mill wisely demonstrates several situations that are solved based on the utilitarianism theory which leads to sacrifice and dehumanization. One of Mill’s most effective examples is the lifeboat. The four English sailors and a cabin boy were stranded at sea in a small lifeboat in the South Atlantic after their ship has gone in a storm. The five people stayed bravely on the boat for 18 days without food and water, but then the four other sailors killed and ate the cabin boy who was being sick on the 19th day in order to survive. On the 24th day, they got rescued and were arrested. Applying the Utilitarianism theory, killing one person to save the other four people is the only option they have that can maximize the happiness with the least lost. On the other hand, the cabin boy was forced to sacrifice his life in this situation. He did not choose to die neither the four sailors did not have his assent to kill him. He was forced to sacrifice his own life to save the sailors and was eaten cruelly. The sacrifice of the