Utiltarianism

Utilitarianism— A Flawed Moral Theory

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory founded by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. This theory stresses the greatest happiness principle. Actions that promote happiness are seen as morally acceptable while things that fail to promote happiness are seen as morally unacceptable. The pursuit of happiness is the key concept in utilitarianism. Rachel’s further explains this idea in The Right Thing to Do, “Utilitarianism is the theory that we should always try to bring about as much happiness as possible”(Rachels, 40). The term happiness when used by Rachels means the absence of pain or the presence of pleasure. I will argue against the theory of utilitarianism simply because it is too demanding and directly conflicts with moral common sense.

At first glance, utilitarianism seems like an acceptable theory. The idea of promoting happiness is simple and widely appealing. Unfortunately, utilitarianism is not as simple as it seems. The concept should be rejects as it is not morally plausible. The first objection with the theory stems from the general structure where it directly conflicts with moral common sense. Using utilitarianism, when there are two different options being considered, moral common sense is one option, while utilitarianism is the opposite option. An example of this is seen while riots occur. Suppose riots are occurring in a town because citizens are being killed by an unknown suspect. As the person in charge, there are two options: throw an innocent person in jail and end the riots or continue to search for the suspect, prolonging the riots. The utilitarian theory supports the first option of throwing an innocent person in jail to end the riots because that would generate the greatest good for the greatest amount of people. While one person suffers, the entire population benefits, thus the good outweighs the bad. Although this solution generates the greatest good, it is morally wrong to persecute...