The Lottery Is An Example Of Monetized Utilitarianism

“Utilitarianism is a consequentialist ethics—the outcome matters, not the act. Among those who focus on outcomes, the utilitarians’ distinguishing belief is that we should pursue the greatest good for the greatest number. So, we can act in whatever way we choose—we can be generous or miserly, honest or dishonest” (Brusseau, 2012, p.107). Basically, a utilitarian person is selfish, thinks to just himself and his own personal gain, if something is good for this person, doesn’t matter if it is bad for many others.

1. The lottery is an example of the utilitarian monster in the sense that the winner of the lottery can become a utilitarian monster himself. “The utilitarian monster is a hypothetical individual who really knows how to feel good” (Brusseau, 2012, p.118). He is an individual that care more about his personal achievement than ethical factors about others.

2.

“Monetized utilitarianism attempts to measure happiness, to the extent possible, in terms of money” (Brusseau, 2012, p.113). In my opinion, even if does exist a definition for “monetized utilitarianism”, it doesn’t make much sense, because I don’t understand how it is possible to measure a feeling like happiness with an amount of money. So, I don’t believe that the lottery with its winners and all the money that maybe it could donate to some associations can be a positive thing with all the breach in ethics it does. Too much gambling corrupts the spirit of a person and it is not positive at

all.

3. Hedonistic utilitarians “believe that getting pleasure right now is good but not as good as maximizing the feeling over the long term” (Brusseau, 2012, p.114). I believe that, yes, for a hedonist utilitarian, the lottery could be ethical because of their vision of the world.

4. I think that utilitarian people don’t have this concept of unethical. I mean that until someone can be happy of his winnings, it is completely ethical for them. So, a utilitarian doesn’t necessarily consider this redistribution unethical.

In conclusion, we saw some faces of utilitarianism and how people interact with them. For every person in the World there is a different way of thinking and different opinions about what it is right or not, so, I conclude saying that if does exist an universal ethics, we still don’t know it.