Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is defined as "the theory that an action is right if it seeks to promote the greatest amount of happiness in the world at large". It clearly wants what is best for society. In fact, the "good of society" is all that really matters, to this theory. And they define what is good in terms of pleasure. If something gives pleasure, then it must be good. But what if something gives a little bit of pleasure to one individual, and yet does it at the cost of someone else in terms of the other person is made greatly unhappy. More unhappy than the other person is happy. So, if you look at it mathematically, there is a negative amount of happiness derived from the action taken in the example. And this would be unwanted in the theory of Utilitarianism. So the most useful thing to know about this theory is "more pleasure and less pain for the greatest number of people [is what it's after]".

English: Ruffy, Victoria looking towards the schoo...

happiness

A Little Happiness

Obviously, what may bring great pleasure to a few people can also bring at the same time mild unhappiness to many people. This would offset or maybe even cause more unhappiness to arise than happiness. In turn making whatever the action that was taken to be wrong in the eyes of any true utilitarian.

You are driving down a rural road in your sporty Toyota truck. As you turn the corner, all of the sudden you see that there is a boy jogging across the street with his dog just behind him. You are too close to miss them both, you can swerve to your left and hit the dog, or you can swerve to your right clipping the boy. Keep in mind that you are going fast enough that you would...