Kant's Anti-Utilitarianism: Making Choices By Yourself And For Yourself?

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Ryan Clark Word count: 1430 Anti- Utilitarianism: Making choices by Yourself and for Yourself The principle of utility influences people to act on the wrong terms and encourages its followers to make decisions solely based on what produces the best results. Consequentialists, Jeremy Bentham and John Stewart Mill believe that it doesn’t matter why a person does something or what motivates them to do so; but rather they think that the outcome is the most important factor in decision making. These two Utilitarian philosophers concluded that the greatest form of good in society was happiness, and that the absence of pain and the presence of pleasure should always be one’s number one priority and ultimately always one’s end goal. Encouraging members Kant is a German philosopher who speaks heavily about the importance of individual duty and autonomy of the will within his work, The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Within the text, Kant guides his readers to live a life of meaning and quality rather than one of little substance and insignificance. His approach to life and how one makes decisions is that of a sound person, who believes and understands that in the end you cannot please everyone, and that as long as you are doing your very best to fulfill your duty you are living a life that has worth and meaning; even if in the end the results are not what you had planned or expected. Unlike Bentham and Mill, Kant teaches his readers that expressing good will and preforming one’s moral duties are the most important factors in leading a happy life, because it produces well-rounded members of society who care about others as well as By measuring the amount of pleasure the majority feels from the get-go and letting that be the driving force behind all of your decisions, rather than doing what is best for you in the moment and dealing with everyone else later, you begin to lead a life where all of your questions are already answered for you. In life, everyone has to make tough choices and deal with the consequences that come along with them, whether they be good or bad, but those who follow the Theory of Utility will never be in that predicament because no matter what the situation is the answer can easily be found by asking yourself one question; will the results of my actions maximize pleasure and minimize pain for the majority? And, while this question may appear to be the perfect solution to most of the world’s problems, it neglects to address, utilize and encourage how important the learning process is that occurs while making these

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