Posted by sinusoidallysane
on January 12, 2009, 4:41 pm
128.54.152.131
In our discussion of utilitarianism, we also discussed possible problems with the theory. In one situation, we discussed whether utilitarianism would allow 90% of a population to oppress the other 10% in order to make themselves happier, and since they are the “greater number” that would lead the greatest happiness.
For the purposes of this argument, we can assign the average happiness in a situation where everyone is treated equally to 1 (with both groups of people having the average of one).
If, by the majority’s oppression of the minority, the majority’s average happiness is raised to 1.1 and the minorities is lowered to .1, then we have
(1.1)*(.9) + (.1)*(.1) = 1
which is exactly the same total happiness in the situation where everyone is treated equally.
Of course, if you determined that the majority’s average would be increased to 1.5 and the minority’s decreased to .5, we would have
(1.5)*(.9) + (.5)*(.1) = 1.4
so one could argue that in this case it would be justified.
However, you could also argue that the average happiness of the oppressed population could easily become negative. For example, if the majority’s average happiness changes to 1.1 (a change I find more likely than the 50% increase) and the oppressed minorities changes to, say, -3, we have
(1.1)*(.9) + (-3)*(.1) = .69
so if we take this model to be accurate, oppressing the minority would not be morally acceptable according to utilitarianism.
There is also the possibility that one group oppressing the other hurts both groups, in which case it would clearly not be advantageous (although it may be difficult to see the information on which that conclusion is based).
Clearly, it difficult to objectively measure happiness/pleasure, let alone predict what it would be under hypothetical scenarios.
From this analysis, it’s easy to see how multiple people who claim to use the utilitarian theory can all disagree with each other about what “right” action would be.
73
Message Thread:
« Back to thread