Table of Contents
Introduction
Founded by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham, utilitarianism is a version of consequentialism, stating that the only measure of the correctness of an action is in the consequences of that action.
According to utilitarianism, any action that we take is taken with the aim of either giving us pleasure, making our lives more satisfactory or to avoid any form of pain or hurt. Thus, from a utilitarian perspective, the correct action in any situation is the one that maximizes happiness for the whole world. In this manner, it also shares some similarities with hedonism. However, it doesn’t give preference to any one person or group of persons in any regard apart from the happiness that they create.
An appropriate example to show how utilitarianism functions could be the case of the famous trolley problem. The problem goes as follows: A heavy trolley is moving on tracks towards five people tied up on the tracks. If the trolley runs over the people, they will surely die. However, you are standing next to a lever that changes the tracks so that the trolley would now be on tracks where only one person is tied up. From a utilitarian approach, it would be better to switch the tracks as the pain that everyone suffers is considered equal and so, the pain of one death is less than the pain of five deaths, making it the solution that minimizes the loss of happiness and thus, the utilitarian solution.
Criticisms of Utilitarianism
The trolley problem is often understood as an analogy for a situation that is often encountered in real life wherein an innocent person may have to undergo suffering for the greater good. Here lies one of the major criticisms of utilitarianism: the possibility that if applied to society, it can lead to oppression of minorities as the greater good will almost always lead to the opinion of the minority on the matter being ignored in favour of the majority. This is a misconception that is caused due to the assumption that people from both the groups would produce the same amount of happiness when the decision favours them when in reality, that simply isn’t the case. An example of this unequal production of happiness can be demonstrated by considering monetary wealth. Giving a fixed amount of money to two different people will produce different amounts of happiness as the person who is wealthier will not be as affected by the money when compared to the less wealthy one. Analogously, utilitarianism would naturally tend to work towards the upliftment of oppressed minorities as paying more attention to their demands would lead to a greater amount of happiness up until the point that they no longer remain oppressed..
However, it is useful to remember that here, the trolley problem is assumed to take place as an isolated situation with no consequences on society apart from the direct loss in happiness. In reality, such an approach, if legally accepted, could very quickly lead to an extremely chaotic society as everyone would potentially be subject to some form of undeserved pain for the benefit of others. This in turn, would lead to a long term decrease in the overall happiness of the society, leading to a failed society from a utilitarian perspective.
Rule Utilitarianism
An answer to this issue of a long term decrease in happiness is offered by a version of utilitarianism called Rule Utilitarianism. Rule Utilitarianism advocates for the existence of guidelines or laws such that though there may be increased suffering in the short term, the amount of happiness would increase in the long term and so, would ultimately achieve the utilitarian goal.
Therefore, in the case of the trolley problem, rule utilitarianism would support letting five people die since that would only be a short term pain that would allow all individuals in society to exist without being under the constant threat of being thrown under the figurative trolley in order to save more people the trouble.
127 our experts are availableright now
