Utilitarianism: Greatest Happiness for the Greatest Number

Utilitarianism is a universal teleological system. It calls for the greatest good for the greatest number. In other words, whatever is beneficial to the greatest number of people is considered to be good, while whatever is beneficial to the least number of people is considered to least good. Utilitarianism deals with motivation, acts, and consequences. There are two principles of utilitarianism. Those principles are the consequentialist principle and the hedonist principle. The consequentialist principle states that if the result is bad then the action is wrong and if the result is good then the action is right. An example of the consequentialist principle would be if a man drives his car off of a cliff and kills himself along with his wife and kids, the result is bad which makes his action wrong. On the other hand, if a man takes his wife and kids to a carnival and they all win prizes, the result is good which makes his action right. The hedonist principle states that an action is good if it makes you happy and an action is bad if it makes you less happy. An example of the hedonist principle would be if a woman buys a pair of shoes and it makes her happy to have the shoes, then her action in buying them was good. However, if a woman gets a flat tire on her way to work and has to pay for a tow truck as well as a new tire, then the action is bad.

There are two types of utilitarianism. These two types are act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism proposes a decision making procedure for every detailed action. The action that maximizes happiness is right. An example of act utilitarianism would be if you have an extra $200 and you're trying to figure out how you should use the extra money. You're considering putting the money in the bank, buying yourself some new clothes, or having a party for you and your friends. Act utility would apply here because in this case you should do whatever it is in your best judgment that would do the most good. Whichever action that maximizes your happiness is right.

Rule utilitarianism judges or justifies many actions at once. It summarizes all the right actions at a given time into a rule and any action that follows that rule is right. An example of rule utilitarianism would be following a rule that protects children from being abused. It wouldn't allow children to suffer abuse when they don't deserve it and it is harming them. A rule that would protect the innocent children will produce more utility than following the principle of act utilitarianism in this case, which would only protect the abused children if it maximized happiness, not because it followed a rule that was morally right.

A criticism against utilitarianism says that you can't just depend on pleasure to determine what's right and wrong. The formula of "The greatest happiness for the greatest number" can cause problems when trying to decide which variables to rank first. If killing off everyone infected with a plague made the people who weren't infected happy, would that necessarily be morally right to kill innocent people just because they were sick? According to utilitarianism it is right because the greatest number of people, those who are healthy, are happy because they are alive and free from the plague. In terms of utilitarianism, when we upgrade our pleasure we also upgrade our morality.