ipl-logo

Utilitarianism: John Stuart Mill's Greatest Happiness

1024 Words5 Pages

When looking at the murderer at the door situation, utilitarianism offers a suitable guide for whether or not you should lie. Utilitarianism offers a way to think of the situation regarding the “Greatest Happiness Principle”, namely regarding the increase in happiness and reduction of pain (John Stuart Mill, 461). Utilitarianism also mentions nobleness in its guideline. There are concerns about the usefulness of utilitarianism in the situation. This most prominently includes which person you should increase the happiness of. Lastly, the concerns are resolved and the usefulness of utilitarianism in this situation is again demonstrated. Utilitarianism shows which individual to benefit in the situation by referring back to the earlier happiness …show more content…

As John Stuart Mill speaks about the “Greatest Happiness Principle”, the goal when making a utilitarian based decision is, “an existence exempt as far as possible from pain” (464). An individual getting murdered is clearly quite close to pain, and the murderer is getting no closer to any form of pain. If you tell the truth to the murderer, they may gain happiness, but the individual who dies will experience great pain. Family and friends of the victim will also suffer deeply as a result of the murder. If, however, you lie to the murderer, they may experience some pain in not accomplishing their goal, but it will not be nearly as large as the pain that will come from the victim being murdered. So while both cases may cause pain, it is clear which situation will cause the greatest pain and least amount of happiness. Looking at both parties can confuse the utilitarian interpreter, as happiness will be achieved for both parties in contradictory ways. Even so, utilitarianism than guides you to look at what will achieve the greatest happiness, and as earlier discussed, the greatest happiness comes from lying to the murderer. Even if the murderer was a personal friend and someone who’s happiness was of interest to you, the “Greatest Happiness Principle” would guide you to lie in order to increase overall happiness and decrease pain (John Stuart Mill,

Show More
Related

  • Is Killing Someone Justified In The Intruder By Andre Dubus

    805 Words  | 4 Pages

    Is killing someone justified when they believe themselves to be in danger? This is a question that arose as I read through the story “The Intruder” by Andre Dubus. This story describes a young boy named Kenneth who more or less is seen as a shy and lonely person. If not at home he is portrayed to be somewhere in the woods where he hears voices, plays with his gun, and allows his imagination to run wild. Nevertheless, as the story progresses, we come to learn that due to Kenneth's shyness, the only true person he is close to is his older sister Connie.

    Read More

  • Essay On Coker V. Georgia

    2954 Words  | 12 Pages

    Marilyn Armour and Mike Umbreit suggest, “Moreover, it may be assumed that receiving the ultimate penal sanction gives control back to survivors, allows them to move on, ends the ordeal, and confirms that bad things happen to people who do bad things, which denies the operation of chance and redeems the victim as a person of value” (Armour, Umbreit 396). This quote is significant because it suggests that the death penalty can be effective in helping the victims of a crime in many ways. Like mentioned in the quote, it can allow for victims to move on, feel like the whole ordeal has come to a close, and even to feel as though a sense of karma was inflicted. Samuel R. Gross and Daniel J. Matheson suggests, “In some cases, victims' relatives explain the relief they feel after the execution in apparently concrete terms: Now the defendant is no longer a threat to them or to anybody else” (Gross, Matheson 490). This is important because, like mentioned previously, the death penalty can help the victims or their families in so many ways.

    Read More

  • Insanity In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

    1063 Words  | 5 Pages

    People often associate murder with psychopaths and sociopaths, whom out of malice and corruption, brutally torture their victims to death. While this cliché is over portrayed in fictional thriller stories, it is not the case for all murders. Most criminals have reasons. Occasionally, the criminal defendant is found to have been innocent by reason of insanity. There are multiple branches of morality to consider before deeming one accountable for their own actions.

    Read More

  • The Rescue Defence Of Capital Punishment By Steve Aspenson

    744 Words  | 3 Pages

    Capital punishment has long been a heavily debated issue. In his article, “The Rescue Defence of Capital Punishment,” author Steve Aspenson make a moral argument in favor of capital punishment on the grounds that that is the only way to bring about justice and “rescue” murder victims. Aspenson argues as follows: 1. We have a general, prima facie duty to rescue victims from increasing harm. 2.

    Read More

  • Involuntary Manslaughter Research Paper

    1261 Words  | 6 Pages

    The excellent sample of deliberate homicide includes a spouse who gets back home startlingly to discover his wife conferring infidelity. In the event that seeing the issue incites the spouse into such warmth of energy, to the

    Read More

  • Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

    961 Words  | 4 Pages

    Murder can be defined as “the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another”. How then, are others able to make us sympathize with not only murderers, but people who have committed horrendous crimes? For example, the media is constantly attempting to humanize rapists and even terrorists with phrases like “lone wolf” or “alienated and adrift.” Such phrases make some of us want to pity the criminal. This can be seen when we compare Perry Smith and Dick Hickock from Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.

    Read More

  • Justice Stevens Arguments Against The Death Penalty

    1021 Words  | 5 Pages

    In recent years, anti-death penalty propagandists have succeeded in stoking the fear that capital punishment is being carelessly meted out. Ironically, Of the 875 prisoners executed in the United States in modern times, not one has been retroactively proved innocent. The benefits of a legal system in which judges and juries have the option of sentencing the cruelest or coldest murderers to death far outweigh the potential risk of executing an innocent person. First and foremost, the death penalty makes it possible for justice to be done to those who commit the worst of all crimes. The execution of a murderer sends a powerful moral message: that the innocent life he took was so precious, and the crime he committed so horrific, that he forfeits

    Read More

  • First-Degree Murder In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

    960 Words  | 4 Pages

    First-Degree Murder is the most serious crime that can be committed, punishable by the death penalty. Once someone commits this crime, they are forever known as a dangerous and terrible person. The decision to murder someone is usually conscious, but in some occasions the suspect can plead innocent for reasons of temporary insanity. In the short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, a man decided to murder his neighbor because he was scared of the neighbor’s eye. When the police came to interrogate him, the man heard a heartbeat in his head.

    Read More

  • Philippa Foot Arguments Against Utilitarianism

    1325 Words  | 6 Pages

    The context of the paper is discussion of why utilitarianism is consistently appealing. As Foot

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Button Short Story

    343 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the story “Button, Button,” the Lewis family was given a choice to push a button to kill someone for $50,000. I would choose to not push the button and to contact the police to notify them about it. Unlike Norma, I believe killing someone you don’t know is definitely still murder if you do it willingly. The prize for pushing the button seems too good to be true. Even though you are murdering someone, it seems like you should be punished as well if you are getting the large amount of money.

    Read More

  • Comparing Dostoevsky's Crime And Punishment

    1302 Words  | 6 Pages

    The principle character in Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov, is acting under utilitarian statutes, and thinks that he is doing humankind a favor by performing a single crime. He thinks that he can be remarkable in the event that he follows up on a numerical equation of human joy. In the event that he murders one pawnbroker, he spares around twelve souls who are always in her obligation. The bliss of twelve souls, he says, is more critical than the life of "a stupid, senseless, worthless, spiteful, ailing, horrid old woman, not simply useless but actually doing mischief, who has not an idea what she is living for herself, and who will die in a day or two in any case," (C and P 63). Given such a terrible individual, utilitarian calculations

    Read More

  • Strengths And Weaknesses Of Utilitarianism

    1711 Words  | 7 Pages

    Commonly, ethical systems are categorized into two major systems. The deontological approaches or normative ethical position which judges an action based on the adherence of the action to certain rules and the teleological approaches which judges primarily based on the consequences of an action (Hare, 1964). The Utilitarianism is assigned to the teleological approaches, as it does not evaluate an action by itself but by it’s

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of John Stuart Mill's 'Utilitarianism'

    1564 Words  | 7 Pages

    John Stuart Mill, at the very beginning of chapter 2 entitled “what is utilitarianism”. starts off by explaining to the readers what utility is, Utility is defined as pleasure itself, and the absence of pain. This leads us to another name for utility which is the greatest happiness principle. Mill claims that “actions are right in proportions 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 happiness, pain and the privation of pleasure”.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay Pro Death Penalty

    1568 Words  | 7 Pages

    When a murderer murders someone they don’t think about the consequences. In more than half the murder cases the

    Read More

  • Lying Is Always Wrong Essay

    1959 Words  | 8 Pages

    Additionally, by lying one is taking away choice from the murderer. Despite his bad intentions, the murderer is still considered part of the moral universe, thus his autonomy must be considered equally as important to everyone else's. Telling the murderer the location of the victim also does not explicitly infringe on the autonomy of the victim as well. His autonomy is not impacted by choosing to disclose whether or not he is in the basement - he is just as able to hide, run, or make another decision regardless of whether or not one lies to the murderer. Therefore, it can be concluded that telling the murderer the location of the victim is actually the most moral choice because it does not erode the autonomy of anyone involved and follows the guidelines of

    Read More

More about Utilitarianism: John Stuart Mill's Greatest Happiness

Open Document