As time progressed John Stuart Mill decided to change some of the main aspects of Utilitarianism after a breakdown at age 20. Mill said that all pleasures are different, so he created the idea of higher and lower pleasures. A higher pleasure might be going to the opera, whereas a lower pleasure would be considered as watching non educational television. This was so people could distinguish between different forms of pleasure. Mill also put forward weak rule and strong rule utilitarianism. The reason why Mill mentions rules, not laws, is because rules evolve over time and are therefore more likely to be successful. Strong rule requires an individual to follow specific rules in a situation no matter what the other factors are, however weak rule allows an individual the choice as to whether or not they can follow rules. Lastly, Mill also introduced the harm principle. He said that those who wanted to try and reach the maximum amount of pleasure were allowed to, as long as they didn’t cause harm to others.
Another developer of Utilitarianism is Hare. Hare put forward preference utilitarianism, which focuses on the preference of individuals so they are not excluded from the situation.
There are many reasons why Utilitarianism may be considered a convincing ethical theory; some of these may include the fact that it applies to secular parts of society. This allows non-religious believers to follow a theory that will not interfere with their values. Another reason why Utilitarianism may be considered as a convincing theory is because it is teleological instead of deontological, this allows individuals to make their own decisions. Furthermore, the theory is consequentialist. This allows people to evaluate the outcomes of their actions before committing them, which may prevent greater harm being inflicted upon society. Utilitarianism might also be considered a persuasive ethical theory because it provides followers with a method, the felicific calculus, to apply Utilitarianism in specific situations.
To what extent are the strengths outweighed by the weaknesses?
ii.) To a large extent these reasons are outweighed by the challenges of Utilitarianism. Although a strength of Utilitarianism may be that it appeals to non-secular parts of society, this can be problematic for Christians as Utilitarianism is anti-legalistic, therefore the Ten Commandments can be ignored and this opposes the main principles of Christianity, this is a large challenge that prevents the theory from being successful. Another strength that is outweighed by a challenge in Utilitarianism is that the theory allows murder, rape and other crimes to be committed if it suits the majority. It is an advantage that the theory tries to achieve universal hedonism, however the process to accomplish this can put others in severe danger. For instance, if the majority believes that a man is a murderer, even though he may not be, this victim may be subjected to horrendous pain if it suits the crowd. His pain is outweighed by their pleasure. This is also another challenge of Utilitarianism. Emotions are not quantitative data; they are too subjective to be measured in a mathematical calculus. Despite the calculus providing individuals with a method to apply utilitarianism in situations, the calculus may be considered too complex for some. This may hinder their decision in a situation, which may result in more damage. Furthermore, the calculus requires the ability to predict the future, which is not possible. This downfall of the calculus outweighs any strengths it might have to offer.
To conclude, I believe that to a large extent the reasons I mentioned before, are outweighed by the challenges in Utilitarianism. It is impossible to practically apply the theory when the hedonic calculus is flawed. Moreover, the main foundation of the theory is imprecise. It is idealist to try and create the greatest amount of pleasure for the greatest amount of people, however the reason why it has never been achieved is because emotions are too subjective and no one can measure the extent of the theory; therefore the strengths are outweighed by the challenges of the theory.
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