A quick objection to utiltarianism for a collage class.

[Sylvia Lafayette]

I had to write a short paper for my ethics class. I threw this together in a rushed 20minutes as an objection to Utilitarianism.

When does the sacrifice end, and whose decision is it with Utilitarianism? By leaving the goal vague, the maximization of happiness for humanity as a whole, there is no way to determine what course of action to take at any one time. The authors reply is to use rules of thumb, don’t lie, don’t steal, etc, but those don’t always work. The idea behind Utilitarianism is not a bad one. If humanity as a whole worked toward maximizing happiness everyone would be happy, but it fails to account for every individual human is unique and does not necessarily follow this moral code.

How about this scenario half the population of humanity are cannibals. It makes them happy to eat people. The other half are Utilitarian. Is it their duty to sacrifice themselves to the cannibals? Lets add weight to how unhappy it makes the cannibals if they don’t get to eat people. If a cannibal doesn’t get to eat someone they become so unhappy they kill themselves, it makes all the other cannibals really unhappy, and some of the utilitarian’s too lowering the overall happiness of humanity more than it is raised when a utilitarian is eaten. At what point is sacrifice for the happiness of humanity as a whole too much?

[Alessandra Necova]

In theory, Socialism would work great if humanity was Utilitarian. However, in the real world, where not all people are truly created equal, where there are smart, dumb, hard working, and lazy people, the simple fact is, we cannot rely on humanity alone to operate society. Thus basic rule of law must have a place. If there is a clear and distinct victim (person or property), the violator should be punished.

To put it into terms of your paper, a person should have the right to sacrifice themselves to a cannibal should they desire to do so. They own their life, and their body is their property. If they choose to give that to someone else, I see no conflict. This is morally acceptable on a large scale basis as well, as long as it is clear the right to choose to give yourself to the cannibals is an individual right, not one owned by society or laws. Happiness is individually achieved, so if the cannibals are unhappy, each needs to individually find a willing person wanting to be eaten.

[Sylvia Lafayette]

of course aless but I wanted to only allude to it rather then blatantly state it because my ethics teacher doesn't like Rand's views.

[Alessandra Necova]

Stand up for what you believe in, even if they control your grades. I'm not saying college for me was easy, but it was definitely interesting.

[redhotrebel]

Stand up for what you believe in, even if they control your grades. I'm not saying college for me was easy, but it was definitely interesting.

I disagree. As a college student you need a "stamp of approval" towards any degree and sometimes you need to eat crow, pretend to agree and move on. School is not a platform for individual thought, especially in college. For example if you disagree with your boss, I'm not saying do anything illegal or immoral, but at times if you argue with your boss you're going to get fired. It's best just to "smile and nod" and pick your battles.