ANALYSIS ON UTILITARIANISM

Definition:

According to John Stuart Miller, Utility, also called Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that “actions are
right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of
happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the
privation of pleasure. To give a clear view of the moral standard set up by the theory, much more requires
to be said; in particular, what things it includes in the ideas of pain and pleasure; and to what extent this is
left an open question.”

It is one example of normative ethics as it focuses solely on the outcomes of right or wrong actions.

Strengths:

It is true that right actions can lead to happiness. Helping a friend who's having difficulty in his/her
studies is a righteous act. This could lead to both parties feeling happiness: the one who helped feeling
happy for being able to help, and the receiver of the act feeling happy that someone helped him/her.

Another situation that could support Miller's theory is that when one person in any relationship cheats on
the other person, that could lead to sadness.

Democratic - since utilitarianism is concerned with the greater good, in coincides with democrary.
Because a democratic government supports the general interest of the public.

Objective - our actions, whether positive or negative, can be measured.

Weaknesses:

Since Miller places emphasis on the results the good or bad actions produce, Utilitarianism has its own
pitfalls.

Firstly, if right actions lead to happiness, what if the person's cause of happiness is hurting people, e.g.
murder? Everyone's pursuit of happiness differ, and some resort to immoral actions to obtain the
happiness they badly want to achieve. So if we apply Miller's theory, is murder right since it evokes
happiness to serial killers?

Secondly, what if "wrong" actions lead to sadness are actually right in nature? For instance, a man is
convicted for committing a crime and his family is in despair for knowing that their son will be put
behind bars. It is lawful to punish criminals, but if it makes their families sad, does that equate to the
action being wrong and therefore the convicted man needs to be free from charges?
Unpredictability - We can never be sure on what would happen with our actions. Everyone's perspective
is different and that is why this can be a problem on deciding what is right or wrong.