Utilitarianism

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Utilitarianism

It is better to give than to receive . I believe I was about nine years old when I heard that statement for the first time . It was in church. It was one of those things that I randomly chose to hear while sitting in church every Sunday. Normally anything that was said in that building never made sense to me and I never had any use for retaining it. This time however something did make sense to me. Perhaps it was because my parents had been telling me that same thing except in a more ambiguous and indirect manner. "Isaac you should share your toys; Isaac why don't you give your food to your sister if you don't want it?; Isaac get your old toys and clothes together so you can donate them to the Salvation Army." So as I grew up I had a somewhat strong belief that it was better to give than to receive. I am now nineteen years of age and I have come to see that what I heard in that church ten years ago isn't always necessarily the true.

Harris claims utilitarianism as the basis of his idea , and in the actual context and definition of the term he is correct . According to Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996 Utilitarianism is defined as the doctrine that utility is the sole standard of morality, so that the rectitude of an action is determined by its usefulness.

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