The Greatest Happiness Principle
People have been brought up in different environments, and depending on that, their life principles may vary. Others prefer to use only one principle, while others use more than one depending on the situation. Most people judge according to their perspective rather than behind logic and reasoning. Taking into account the greatest happiness principle as the principle I am supposed to act upon, and I will evaluate it carefully to find its positive and negative impacts. It is vital to consider the dangers that might be represented in the choice of ideas used.
According to John Stuart Mill, the Greatest Happiness Principle applies when actions tend to bring happiness with his definition of happiness being the absence of suffering and pain. Any endeavour whose effect does not bring happiness is against the principle (Scielo, 2014). Mill further relates morality to the happiness criteria. That is, actions that make people happy are considered moral. It is crystal clear that the principle intends to make the world a haven with people’s satisfaction as the number one consideration.
Furthermore, the principle is considered useful if it brings pleasure to the more significant majority in the bid of promoting moral living. However, some things remain ambiguous in the principle. Take, for instance, what happens to the minority who were not happy or not satisfied with the happiness criterion used.
The main reason why people tend to act according to such principles is because of the satisfaction they get in the end. When activities are done with, the main purpose being to fulfill everyone’s happiness, the end product is often positive (Westacott, 2019). The success of the end product can be attributed to people making their benefits/profits personal. As people work towards achieving something morally right, they may believe that they work in line with the moral standards set. Thus, their actions tend to contribute to the end goal, which reflects an improved society. Therefore, the greatest happiness principle contributes to societal well-being.
At this point, it is thoughtful to say the greatest happiness principle is a life efficient principle. Take, for instance, if people work hard to get better pay, they directly benefit the company, which reflects to the managers being happy. As the principle advocates for making a more significant number of people happy, putting one’s benefits first directly translates to making others happy.
It is important to consider the negative attributes of the principle to utilize the effects that come with it appropriately. As much as people’s happiness has been placed as the main guide to the principle, a few people may be hurt by these actions. Is it of value if people get hurt in the long run? The principle’s main idea is that the outcome of any action is always happiness. This is not realistic as it is impossible for everyone to be happy as much as the main idea is in the interest of pleasure.
Also, in this instance, morality is based on pleasure. Greed can control people as they will long for more pleasurable moments. Humans will tend to crave more, which will not be considered morally right as they may hurt other people in this quest. This is to say that the greatest happiness principle may not be applicable in every instance as it may harm. This event will have fulfilled the principle but violated ethically and morally right actions.
References
Scielo. (2014, June). The harm principle and the greatest happiness principle: the missing link. Scielo, 55(129). doi:10.1590/S0100-512X2014000100006
Westacott, E. (2019, July 26). Three Basic Principles of Utilitarianism, Briefly Explained. ThoughtCo. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/basic-principles-of-utilitarianism-3862064