my qualm with utilitarianism

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onto today’s topic: my qualm with utilitarianism 👐 

i had a very long conversation yesterday about different philosophical schools of thought. i’m definitely not one to cite any philosophers because i’m not very interested in the historical context, but i am indeed interested in how people think, and utilitarianism stuck out to me.

essentially, utilitarianism is the idea that the right actions are those that maximize overall happiness. it falls under the umbrella of consequentialism, which means actions are judged based on results, rather than intent. ⚖️ 

one of the core principles of utilitarianism is the greatest happiness principle, which means an action is morally right if it leads to the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.

i don’t necessarily agree with that part. actions are right even if they aren’t doing the most good quantitatively. i believe it’s still moral to choose to help 3 members of your close family opposed to 10 strangers — the morally right choice was helping at all. 🤷‍♀️ it’s human nature to hold community, different problem areas, and interests close. we can’t dial everything in our lives down to numbers, that goes against how our lived experiences shape us as human beings.

if we adopted this school of thought widely as a society, no scientists would ever research rare diseases only impacting hundreds of people. instead, all research and funding would go towards curing cancer because that impacts many more people and minimizes suffering.

it is still right to instill happiness to a smaller number of people, so long as you are instilling happiness to begin with. ♥️ 

doing the most good doesn’t always have to be reflected through numbers. perhaps you only impacted 5 people through an education program, but genuinely transformed their lives.

ultilitarianism overlooks the level of impact on an individual level and human desire to solve problems more personally meaningful.

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