Mill's Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism, is the argument that a man should judge everything based on his ability to promote the greatest individual happiness. In other words, even if your actions are wrong, they are morally justified if it is for the greater good or, the greatest individual happiness. There are many different standpoints on what happiness really is, in John Stuart Mill’s essay on utilitarianism he argues that as long as your behavior creates bliss it is accounted for as happiness. Stuart supports his claims by explaining his own research and knowledge on the subject, “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” The author writes this article in order to try and change
the reader’s perspective on utilitarianism and their idea on what true happiness is.
I disagree with Mill’s argument because just being that your actions aren't causing a majority of the populations pain doesn’t necessarily mean your actions are right.
John’s beliefs are that “ The basic principle of utilitarianism involves a calculus of happiness, in which actions are deemed to be good if they tend to produce happiness in the form of pleasure...” I do not see how you can argue that one's actions are good as long as they aim towards creating happiness. Suicide bombers, for instance, is it ok when they kill hundreds of people including themselves because they believe they are doing the greater good for their religion and society? No, there is no excuse nor moral justification for these horrid actions. In a summary of Stuart’s autobiography, he argues that “...utilitarianism coincides with natural sentiments that originate from humans’ social nature.” This quote is saying that it is humanly natural for us to have no empathy for the few who feel pain if it means the rest of the population is happy. For Mill to state that this is in ¨human nature¨ would mean that we all have similar consciences. Such calculations like these would be illogical and inaccurate, we would then be able to experience the same identical amount of pain and pleasure therefore defeating the whole purpose of utilitarianism. I maintain that everyone has a separate conscience and in their perception they know wrong actions from right
ones. The theory of utility being the only form of joy is irrational.
Utility is a fabricated version of happiness, Mill describes utility as “pleasure itself, and the absence of pain.” If pain were to be absent from the everyday we would not know what the meaning of happiness is. We have to have some degree of pain and evil in our lives that way we realize what makes us truly happy and we appreciate it when we have it. Listen to this scenario, a man takes his son to the hospital because he is sick and the doctors find out he is about to die. There is a cure, however the man doesn't have anything close to that much money, but he then sees the medicine he needs in one of the doctors drawers. Does he let his son die or does he steal the medicine? If he steals the medicine will it be morally justified and will the doctors let it go because he had the right intentions, no he committed a crime therefore he has to deal with the consequences. So in the end there is going to be some sort of pain, he let’s his son die, or he goes to jail and won’t even be able to see his
son. I do realize that some people might disagree with my argument and say that it is fine to do something wrong as long as it is for the greater good. Yes I understand that in some rare cases desperate times call for desperate measures, but let’s put ourselves in the other people’s shoes. Say we get stranded on an island and we are there for a good week without any food. Someone noticed your child is getting weak and proposes to the rest of the group to put the child out of it’s misery and feed themselves. Would you let them kill your child just because it is best for the rest of the group? Of course you wouldn’t. The theory that a man should judge everything based on his ability to promote the greatest individual happiness is absurd. We as human beings should be more considerate towards the people we might be hurting and the amount of trouble their actions can cause. Because I am certain if you were one of the people who was on the other side of the so called “greater good” you wouldn’t be too pleased about it. Every good action has the right outcome, every wrong doing has a consequence and no matter where you're at or how long ago you made them they will find a way to catch up to you.