Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism, according to Feinberg and Shafer-Landau, is defined as “the moral theory stating that individuals should choose the act, among those available to the agent, that is likely to create the greatest amount of happiness and the least amount of pain” (717). In addition, an underlying principle is that one person’s pleasures and pains are considered universally equal to anyone else’s pleasures and pains. In his article “Justice and Utilitarianism,” John Stuart Mill defends this ideology, stating that one should seek to produce the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Mill's utilitarianism presumes a hedonistic theory of value, in that pleasure and the absence of pain are the only things of intrinsic worth, and these are equated with happiness. Higher pleasures, however, are more valuable than lower ones. For example, the pleasures of learning things and of helping others are more valuable than the pleasures of eating and drinking. We can decide...