Individual Hapiness
Bamzi
Individual happiness is important.
In most cases we are not sure what to do when faced with certain situations that require us to choose. In cases like these, we are torn between choosing what makes us happy, and what the right thing is, in the eyes of other people. Many people would say that we are selfish if we chose something that made us happy, over something that satisfies and makes our families who are more people happy. The principle of utilitarianism, which demands individuals to base their actions on what will make most people happy, is praised and seen as a good thing in society even if it means that those individuals are themselves not happy. Contrary to what society thinks is the right thing to do, individual happiness should be the basis of the right thing to do. In this paper I am going to show why individual happiness is important and why people should value it.
I believe that everyone should do what makes them happy. By this I mean that people should not do things because they want to please other people, but because that’s what they want to do. John Stuart Mill believes in the Greatest Happiness Principle, in which he says that our actions should be based on what will make the highest number of people happy. In his article, ‘Utilitarianism’ Mill writes, “But it is no means an indispensable condition to the acceptance of the utilitarian standard; for that standard is not the agent’s own greatest happiness, but the greatest amount of happiness altogether…As between his own happiness and that of others, utilitarianism requires him to be as strictly impartial as a disinterested and benevolent spectator.”1 In this principle of utilitarianism, Mill argues that making many people happy is more important than individual happiness. I think Mill is right when he says that individuals should care about other people’s happiness, but I still believe that, that shouldn’t be something to cost the individual own happiness. I think that people should
Individual happiness is important.
In most cases we are not sure what to do when faced with certain situations that require us to choose. In cases like these, we are torn between choosing what makes us happy, and what the right thing is, in the eyes of other people. Many people would say that we are selfish if we chose something that made us happy, over something that satisfies and makes our families who are more people happy. The principle of utilitarianism, which demands individuals to base their actions on what will make most people happy, is praised and seen as a good thing in society even if it means that those individuals are themselves not happy. Contrary to what society thinks is the right thing to do, individual happiness should be the basis of the right thing to do. In this paper I am going to show why individual happiness is important and why people should value it.
I believe that everyone should do what makes them happy. By this I mean that people should not do things because they want to please other people, but because that’s what they want to do. John Stuart Mill believes in the Greatest Happiness Principle, in which he says that our actions should be based on what will make the highest number of people happy. In his article, ‘Utilitarianism’ Mill writes, “But it is no means an indispensable condition to the acceptance of the utilitarian standard; for that standard is not the agent’s own greatest happiness, but the greatest amount of happiness altogether…As between his own happiness and that of others, utilitarianism requires him to be as strictly impartial as a disinterested and benevolent spectator.”1 In this principle of utilitarianism, Mill argues that making many people happy is more important than individual happiness. I think Mill is right when he says that individuals should care about other people’s happiness, but I still believe that, that shouldn’t be something to cost the individual own happiness. I think that people should
Cited: Mill, John Stuart. “Utilitarianism.” Twenty Questions. By G Lee Bowie, Meredith W Michaels, and Robert C Solomon. 2004. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2011. 600-601. Print. Nietzsche, Friedrich. “The Natural History of Morals.” Twenty Questions. By G Lee Bowie, Meredith W Michaels, and Robert C Solomon. 2004. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2011. 600-601. Print.