The Greater Good as Seen by an Utilitarian

Utilitarianism is all about the greater good. John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was a true utilitarian. He believed that in the end, whatever deed is the most positive is the correct one. Utilitarianism can also be defined as the idea that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its usefulness in maximizing the net result. It also means that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its outcome.
One example of utilitarianism at work takes place in the American 1950s into the 1970s. During this time school desegregation was a hot topic. Many people called for a separate, but equal situation. The problem with this was that the richer community was far more likely to be of whites, giving for a better schooling situation. There were many ideas and solutions put on the table to solve this, but the utilitarian approach is as follows on page 371 of Soccio, “One utilitarian solution to school integration was to take advantage of the self-interest of those parents with the most social and political influence. How could this be done? By sending their children to schools in other neighborhoods. The corollary to this, of course, involved busing black children to white schools. Even if many families resented school busing and integration, in the long run their unhappiness would be balanced against a greater good for society as a whole.”

Another example could be a situation where a terrorist kidnaps the president’s wife and threatens to kill her if the president does not tell the hostage taker where he can find a nuclear bomb. This situation would be a no brainer for a utilitarian. They would say that the president must sacrifice his wife for the greater good. Although, in the short term, things will be devastating but eventually the greater good will be clearly prevalent when thousands of people are saved.

Utilitarians believe that no act is automatically right. They say that every act depends in the situations. Furthermore, doing nothing can also be considered and act, to a utilitarian. Many times doing nothing is actually worse than doing someone. A simple example of this would be watching someone die while you know you could have helped them. Again, a utilitarian belief wants to get the most happiness out of situation. Mill blames the lack of happiness, for some, on the society as a whole. Mill’s view is explained in Soccio on page 372, “Mill argued that the principal cause of unhappiness is elfishness. He believed that happiness requires a balance between tranquility and excitement, and selfishness robs us both. It robs us of tranquility because it is never satisfied, and it diminishes out possibilities for excitement (or stimulation) by narrowing out range of interests.”

Mill had a very optimistic view when it came to utilitarianism. He felt that basically, humans are good and eventually if everyone follows his views then the world will be a much better place. Soccio examines Mill’s ideas on page 373 as, “In the end, Mill remained an optimist who believed that by applying reason and good will, the vast majority of human beings could live with dignity, political and moral freedom, and harmonious happiness.” Mill thought that the “wisdom of society” could indeed extinguish poverty completely. Furthermore, it could alleviate the scourge of disease.