Philosophy
Utilitarian Ethics distinguishes the vital role of pleasure and pain in human life. It prescribes individual pleasure and the choice made whether right or wrong as well as whether it brings pleasure and to how many people. Hedonism is the appreciation of pleasure and prevention of pain as a crucial goal of any human being and thus establishes a moral position for one’s acting in striving to be happy. In this case, my friend wants me to help him with his studies and helping him shall bring happiness to him and to me. When I don’t he will fail and it will be the pain consequence of my actions. While on the other hand my friends wants me to join them as they go to the beach. This brings happiness to me and if I don’t go they will still go. Quantity of pleasure is being equal, thus keeping my promise to one of my friend to help him study for his exams causes more pleasure than spending the weekend with my friends. It is more imperative to devote more resources to help my friend than to spend at the beach with other friends. Simple pleasures are preferred by people lacking high art experience and hence are not in a position to judge. People, who practice philosophy, benefit the society more than those that engage in individual practices for pleasure which are lower forms of happiness such as going to the beach with friends. It is not one’s own pleasure that matter but the greatest amount of happiness altogether.
The society should not practice capital punishment since it means many people are going to be punished and this will cause pain to them. On the other side of it, the wrong doers offend the society and cause them trouble by their evil doing. Utilitarian does not support evil doing and therefore the society should practice capital punishment to punish the evil doers. Humans are motivated by the number of people they make happy and change their goals towards reducing pain. Pleasure is a crucial goal for human being comparing to the people one wants to please and make happyWhen it comes to ones happiness, pleasure does not matter. Hedonists who describe pleasure as a sensation are said to be Quantitative Hedonists and they argue that the pleasure from the various senses is the same. Qualitative Hedonists, uses the support of the senses to help distinguish between qualities of pleasure. For instance, a Qualitative Hedonist may argue that pleasurable sensations from touch and movement are always lower quality than any other. It is very difficult to conclude whether the utilitarian theory is justifiable. Should one just focus on the positive results or should one also focus on the measures that we take in order to achieve the greatest good?
