John Stuart Mill's View Of Utilitarianism

First I would like to talk about the stance a Utilitarian would take in regards to the advancement of stem cell research and its use to treat medical diseases in humans. Utilitarianism we first set in motion by Jeremy Bentham when he argued “Morality is not about pleasing God, nor is it about being faithful to abstract rules. Rather, morality is about making the world as happy as possible” (Rachels, 99). However, John Stuart Mill is the one who made Utilitarianism particularly popular when he wrote the book called Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism was created in an attempt to create a field of ethics that didn’t involve religion or principle ethics because those were the only options for belief before utilitarianism was considered an ethical theory.
“Our moral culture is ultimately more significant than a given moral issue because it directly influences the decisions that are made regarding all such issues. It serves as the lens through which we understand much of life and our sense of goodness, justice and the morally right. It impacts not only individuals' thinking, but also the larger cultural ethos and its perspectives on a myriad of moral issues” (Hollinger). I believe that in the case of Utilitarianism and Kantian Ethics I would have to side on behalf of Utilitarianism because I believe that embryonic stem cell research would be extremely beneficial to millions of people. However, I also believe that embryonic stem cell research should only be done with the consent of the individual donating because I think it would be ethically wrong to experiment on individuals embryos without their complete understanding and consent. I would not see a problem with embryonic stem cell research with consent from donator because it would mean the potential of saving thousands of lives. Plus, I think that making decisions based on what will cause the most happiness is a great start in an ethical theory that I would abide by. It would truly be a shame if one-day embryonic stem cells could treat or cure hundreds of disease and we never put in enough research or time into trying to discover how to do that because we viewed the research ethically wrong. Imagine all of those lives that could have been saved or improved because we continued that research. I just find it hard to believe that embryonic stem cells research isn’t worth the thousands of lives it would save if the experimental research is proven to