What Is An Example Of Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is a moral theory of Jeremy Bentham. It defines that actions are morally right if they produce the greatest amount of pleasure at the end. According to Bentham’s official argument, we are morally required to perform actions that brings the most pleasure as consequences. Conversely, considering Bentham’s real case for Utilitarianism, many objections and alternatives could be raised facing the theory. In this paper, I would explain Bentham’s theory of Utilitarianism, provide a counterexample, and also discuss an alternative of the theory. The Principle of Utility basically states that we should do things that gives utility the most. In Bentham’s “An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation”, he formulates the theory

One thing to note is that, according to the theory, the right actions are comprehended completely in terms of the consequences produced. Moreover, many counterexamples could be considering the Utilitarianism. For instance, nowadays, child abandonment is still common in some area, due to family poverty, child illness or some other reasons. Also, in some rural areas of developing countries, the families look up to men and down on women. As a result, some families would choose to abandon the female children and raise up the male children only. If child abandonment could bring the greatest pleasure to the whole family and only the child being abandoned suffers from the pain caused by the action. Then according to Bentham’s theory of Utilitarianism, child abandonment is the right action to choose as it brings more total pleasure than pain. Notwithstanding it is the right action appealing to Utilitarianism, it does not take into consideration human rights of life and liberty. Abandoning a child is not only an irresponsible action, but it is also a violation of the abandoned child’s rights of life. Understood the restriction on how people should respect moral rights and treat each other, it is obvious that Utilitarianism does not respect human rights under some circumstances. Bentham’s theory only concerns the greatest amount of pleasure without restriction on