Essay On Utilitarianism

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One might think that because utilitarianism has been stated to do the most good for the greatest amount of people that it is magnificent. However, because their idea of good is twisted into the goal of pleasure it is everything but good. Aristotle states many faults to utilitarianism. First, pleasure is incidental to something else, meaning one must take part in an action that gives them pleasure. Pleasure cannot happen on its own will; instead it is taken from something else. However, it may or may not occur if one participates in an action. For example, I may attend a play such as the nutcracker. That does not mean that I will find pleasure in the Nutcracker, nor do I know that I will not. My pleasure can only happen after watching the Nutcracker, …show more content…
Their biggest fault remains that utilitarian’s look at people as a means for gaining pleasure, rather than an end. This way of thinking brings a great violence against nature. Utilitarianism is at the very least spiritually violent. In some cases as previously mentioned, genocide, it is physically violent. Nevertheless, the attitude of utilitarianism is very violent and brings about spiritually violent actions. For example, when African Americans were made slaves in the new world, Caucasian’s thought them to be property rather than human beings. This is a spiritually violent idea that brought about violence towards slaves and later black, who were lynched and segregated. The fifth fault of utilitarianism is that it is subjective, meaning pleasure is felt differently by each person. It is merely a coincidence when two people’s pleasures coincide. My feelings of pleasure are my own because only I can feel how I feel, just as someone else’s pleasures are their own. In relationships this is also the case. A man may not feel the same in the relationship that a woman does. The same as two friends may not feel the same kind of pleasure in certain

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