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The Extent to Which Utilitarianism is Considered Inadequate as a Means of Solving Moral Dilemmas
Jeremy Bentham who first popularised utilitarianism theorised that it
was a principle that supported the majority’s happiness. After
arriving at this, he decided to introduce the hedonic principle to
measure the quantity of pleasure. This however still left many
questions unanswered and so his disciple J.S.Mill came about a
qualitative theory. Though an amendment has been made, there still
lies the following criticism.
The first major inadequacy is the fact is that it leads to an end
justifies the means mentality. The hedonic calculus implied this
mentality in that it based its conditions on the outcome of actions,
which it assumed to be good. These actions however might have a bad
outcome. For example, the Germans voted for Adolph Hitler because they
thought it will do them good, but if it were so, then Hitler could
justify the Holocaust because the end was to purify the human race or
Stalin could justify his slaughter of millions because he was trying
to achieve a communist utopia.
Secondly, is the fact that J.S.Mill put the decision of considering
whether an action is good or bad in the hands of those he termed
competent judges. These were those who were intellectually capable
experiencing lower and higher pleasures of the mind. He believed that
this competent judge would have chosen the higher pleasures. This may
be of his own opinion because he was an upper class, highly respected,
intelligent, Victorian gentleman and practised a lot of social
differentiation, which may have been of great influence in his
principle. In his times, some actions might have been considered of
higher pleasure to those so-called competent judges and might have
been morally wrong. For example, public execution, which was
absolutely acceptable in those years but truly barbaric.