Utilitarianism: a Couple of Wrinkles.

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
2ndRateMind

2ndRateMind

Member
#1
Aug 18, 2021
115
22
18
#1
Wrinkle 1) You are to imagine you are a doctor. You have four patients. Patient 1) needs a heart and lung transplant. 2) needs new kidneys. 3) needs a new liver. 4) needs a pancreas. A perfectly fit individual arrives for his annual flu jab. Tissues all match. According to 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number' principle, your duty is clear. You should use him as the source for the required organs, since the happiness of the four outweighs the happiness of one. So the first idea is to amend the happiness principle so it reads as follows: One should seek the greatest happiness of the greatest number provided no human rights are violated.

Wrinkle 2) Though we are happiness seeking animals, happiness is a fleeting state. And why should we not just get stoned and stay stoned? So wrinkle 2 replaces happiness with a concept of well being, that being longer lasting and more comprehensive.

So our happiness principle now reads:

One should seek the greatest well-being of the greatest number, provided no human rights are violated.

Any comments? Does this formulation work for you?

Best wishes, 2RM.
 
Lynx

Lynx

Folksy yet erudite
#2
Aug 13, 2014
24,933
8,176
113
#2
Only two wrinkles with that. Wrinkle one is, people sure are doggone quick to cry that their rights are being violated in order to get their way. Wrinkles two is, many people have many different interpretations of what is best for our well-being.
 
2ndRateMind

2ndRateMind

Member
#3
Aug 18, 2021
115
22
18
#3
Lynx said:
Only two wrinkles with that. Wrinkle one is, people sure are doggone quick to cry that their rights are being violated in order to get their way. Wrinkles two is, many people have many different interpretations of what is best for our well-being.
Click to expand...
Yes, rights need careful handling. I go by the UN declaration.

As for well being, I live more contentedly as an impoverished Christian than ever I did as employed atheist. Go figure.

Best wishes, 2RM.
 
G

Gideon300

Well-known member
#4
Mar 18, 2021
4,943
2,869
113
#4
2ndRateMind said:
Wrinkle 1) You are to imagine you are a doctor. You have four patients. Patient 1) needs a heart and lung transplant. 2) needs new kidneys. 3) needs a new liver. 4) needs a pancreas. A perfectly fit individual arrives for his annual flu jab. Tissues all match. According to 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number' principle, your duty is clear. You should use him as the source for the required organs, since the happiness of the four outweighs the happiness of one. So the first idea is to amend the happiness principle so it reads as follows: One should seek the greatest happiness of the greatest number provided no human rights are violated.

Wrinkle 2) Though we are happiness seeking animals, happiness is a fleeting state. And why should we not just get stoned and stay stoned? So wrinkle 2 replaces happiness with a concept of well being, that being longer lasting and more comprehensive.

So our happiness principle now reads:

One should seek the greatest well-being of the greatest number, provided no human rights are violated.

Any comments? Does this formulation work for you?

Best wishes, 2RM.
Click to expand...
I much prefer, "Treat others the way that you would like to be treated yourself". And for once I'd like to hear something about people having responsibilities as well as rights.
 
2ndRateMind

2ndRateMind

Member
#5
Aug 18, 2021
115
22
18
#5
Responsibilities are, of course, the flip-side of rights. You can't have one without the other. It's just that the state tends to pick up the responsibilities, in order to grant it's citizens their rights.

Best wishes, 2RM.
 
2ndRateMind

2ndRateMind

Member
#6
Aug 18, 2021
115
22
18
#6
Gideon300 said:
I much prefer, "Treat others the way that you would like to be treated yourself". ...
Click to expand...
Uh huh. Modern ethics seems to have four main strands: Deontology, Virtue ethics, Situation ethics and Utilitarianism. My commentary applies only to utilitarianism.

Best wishes, 2RM.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.