Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Utilitarianism

Utilitarians believe that a good act is one that maximizes happiness for the most people, while minimizing suffering or not causing more suffering than happiness. Jeremy Bentham, an English philosopher, introduced the idea of utilitarianism. He argued that the government should try to promote the greatest good for the greatest number of people and that in general the individual should be free to pursue his or her own advantage without interference from the state. 



This form of government is extremely idealistic. It would fail almost immediatelyafter its induction. Some of the problems with it are that it doesn't account for crime, economy, or society. From my understanding people are allowed to be free to pursue whatever they wanted and it's the government's job to step aside and not take action if you decided to go on a killing spree. Utilitarianism would solve some of the problems most citizens have with their government all over the world,  but in no way could it keep peace and stability in an entire nation.

No comments:

Post a Comment