What Is Utilitarianism?

To begin an exploration in ethical philosophy and build a foundational knowledge and understanding of how such thinking has evolved and progressed in humans over time, one must look to possibly one of the most influential approaches to ethics in history: Utilitarianism (Driver). In order to understand what Utilitarianism is and how this system of thought developed and can be applied in society, one must look back to the writings of thinkers who began to discover a clearer definition of the concept in the early nineteenth century. Ideas of John Stuart Mill and his predecessor Jeremy Bentham must be examined as well as the criticisms of their work by more modern thinkers such as Peter Singer and John Rawls. Through the careful examination
Modern thinker Peter Singer points out the flaws in the “Greatest Happiness Principle” in his 1971 essay Famine, Affluence, and Morality. In his essay Singer begins by telling the story of the current (1971) refugee situation in Bengali. He makes a point of demonstrating how relief coming from affluent countries such as Great Britain and Australia are superficially seen as being beneficial when in reality we, as a society, are morally and practically approaching the problem the wrong way. To argue this point, Singer uses two main assumptions; his first being that the things happening in Bengali, e.g. suffering from lack of food, shelter, medical care etc. are bad. He is to the point in that he outlines that these are assumed to be bad things by a majority of people and that is the end of his first assumption; it is there simply for clarification and to set up the second assumption and main argument of his essay. Singer states his second assumption, “… if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do it,” (Singer). So according to Singer, if it is in man’s power to prevent bad things from happening we need to do it, not only in Bengali in the instance of refugees, but in all areas of life. He explains how
He criticizes Singer and Mills, stating that while Utilitarian beliefs and the “Greatest Happiness Principle”, are held with happiness and pleasure as the end goal, the actions to achieve these ends can often involve individual pain and suffering (Rawls). He gives examples of how societies use individuals, such as in an agrarian society, to benefit their advancement as a whole, but the workers and farmers are often subject to nothing remotely near pleasure for their entire