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Utilitarianism In John Stuart Mill (a Critical Appraisal)
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 6]
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Hence people shall always act from the inducement of
promoting the general interests of the society. Pertinent to mention
here is that the utilitarian morality conversed with the golden rule of
Jesus of Nazareth, to do as you would love to be done by others and to
love (your neighbour) as you love yourself. This invariably reads the
complete spirit of ethics of utility.
Utility therefore enjoins as
means of making the nearest approach to its objects, that laws and
social arrangements should place happiness or interest of every
individual in harmony with the interest of the whole.
This could be
achieved through education as a medium to establish in the mind of every
individual an indissoluble association between individual happiness and
the good at the society; hence the altruistic nature of utilitarianism.
Nonetheless,
there is no ethical standard that decides an action to be good or bad,
right or wrong since such a judgment is done by a good, amiable, brave
and benevolent man or the contrary. Moreover, right action does not
necessarily indicate a virtuous character. For instance, to be a good
doctor is not the same as being a good person. One could be a good
doctor without being a good person. As such, there is a difference
between perfection in one’s profession and the activity of the same
person as a person. In the long run, however the best proof of a good
character remains good actions. Utilitarianism could, therefore, only
attain its end by the general cultivation of nobleness of character.
1.3 TYPES OF UTILITARIANISM
Here,
we are going to consider five forms of utilitarianism from different
perspectives. However each kind of utilitarianism relates to another as
such, the knowledge of one serves as a base to understanding and
knowledge of the other. They include:
i. Act Utilitarianism
ii. Rule Utilitarianism
iii. Individual Utilitarianism
iv. Social Utilitarianism
v. Egoistic Altruism
1.3.1 ACT-UTILITARIANISM
Act
utilitarianism is one of the major forms of utilitarianism that holds
that the rightness or wrongness of an action should be decided only on
the basis of the consequence(s) of the action. This is to say that the
“after-effect†or the result of an action determines the morality of the
action in question. Hence, those actions that produce good results for
the greater numbers of people are considered good while those actions on
the other hand that produce evil result, pain and unhappiness, are
regarded as bad and wrong. More still, act-utilitarianism claims that an
action is right if it achieves maximum utility for a maximum number
hence; the morality of an action is determined, according to this
principle, on the basis of the consequences of the action.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 6]
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