UTILITARIANISM IN JOHN STUART MILL (A CRITICAL APPRAISAL)

UTILITARIANISM IN JOHN STUART MILL (A CRITICAL APPRAISAL)

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

There have existed lots of conflicts, disagreements and intolerable attitudes in matters of moral issues as individuals tend to resist the concerted actions demanded in a society. Indeed, from the dawn of philosophy, the question concerning the “Summum Bonum” or “the yardstick for measuring the morality of human actions” has been accounted the main problem in speculative thought. It therefore, gave rise to various sects and schools carrying on a vigorous warfare against one another.

 

The utilitarian principle is seen and has been held as the true standard of morality and most reliable measurement for distinguishing good actions from the bad actions. The goodness (right) or badness (wrong) of an action lies in its usefulness as means for attainment of happiness or pleasure and diminishing pain.

 

Nevertheless, the utilitarianism has been unable to deal with certain kinds of moral issues like rights and justice. There are certain actions that utilitarianism regards as morally right yet, they violate people’s right and deny them of justice too. This implies that utilitarianism looks only at how much utility is produced and fails to take into account how that utility is achieved or distributed among members of a society. More still, it becomes difficult too to evaluate the ethical propriety of any decision. It means therefore that utilitarianism seems to ignore certain important aspects of ethics since; it holds the principle that right actions in any situation are the one that will produce the greatest benefit(s). Hence, the end justifies the means but this principle is unacceptable.

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