Utilitarianism and Happiness

The philosophical speculation that I choose to do is called utileism. In a brief sentence, utilitarianism elbow room the superior high-priced for the sterling(prenominal) bet of heap. Basically what this means is, doing the right thing is found on how galore(postnominal) an(prenominal) people your action benefits rather than how much it benefits you. fit in to the Oxford Ameri evoke Dictionary utility means the demesne of being useful, profitable, or ripe(oxford dictionary,2013). The whole possibility is all ab egress how much it benefits and how useful or profitable an action or an idea is.For sheath if killing unrivalled criminal brings forth cheer to a hundred people, then killing that unrivaled criminal is not a bad idea. simply when because it builds one hundred people happy. According to utilitarians the ultimate goal or the almost important part of life is to seek enjoyment. solely the blessedness that you seek mustiness not only benefit you, but it has to benefit a bulge outsized sum of the people. This is called the superlative happiness principle(Wikipedia, Feb, 11,2013). instanter this is the main idea of utilitarianism, but it does branch out in the different direction due to many philosophers that thought of this theory.Utilitarianism is not discovered by retributive one person, its made up of many ideas from many different philosophers. Although many people bank that utilitarianism started with Jeremy Bentham and antic Stuart Mill, at that place were philosophers that came up with similar ideas as utilitarianism. Before we talk or so the authors of this theory, we must very understand the explanation of utilitarianism and how it came to be. Way adventure in history when homos invented writing in the Sumerian Civilization of the Old Babylon, the ancient Mesopotamian people wrote a poem/story called the Epic of Gilgamesh nigh a friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu.In this story theres a character by the b ring up of Siduri that tells Gilgamesh Fill your belly. Day and night make merry. permit days be full of joy. Dance and make music day and night(Wikipedia, Feb, 3, 2013). This quote dates back to the very first advocacy of he endureistic school of thought in the human civilization. It is believed to be written during 2500 2000 B. C. A little forward in time and we get by to meet Aristippus of Cyrene (435 356 BC). Aristippus is a student of one of the greatest philosophers to ever oam the planet, the father of philosophy, Socrates. Though Aristippus didnt chase in the footsteps of his teacher, he had his own ideas and own theories of philosophy, one of them being hedonism. Aristippus idea of hedonism is that all people stand the right to do anything to achieve the greatest cadence of pleasure. For example if drinking and doing drugs bring you the greatest follow of pleasure and happiness, then there is nothing incorrect in doing so. You may be asking yourself, why I am tell ing you about the history of hedonism.So let me rationalize, in the 18th nineteenth century. The British philosophers by the name of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill came up with the theory of utilitarianism by winning hedonism of Aristippus and adding the greatest happiness principle (Kerby Anderson, 2012). The hedonistic theory of doing anything to achieve the greatest amount of pleasure dark into doing anything to achieve the greatest unsloped for the greatest number of people which is now called utilitarianism, this philosophical theory is basically an innovation of hedonism.Though many philosophers had part in its discovery, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill brought utilitarianism to its true glory, if they didnt explain their philosophy in the way they did. Perhaps I wouldnt be writing this essay right now. So the ones to be credited for utilitarianism is Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. unless its not to say that this theory doesnt rush its goods and disadva ntages. Like all things in life, there be benefits and there are hindrances. The Advantage of utilitarianism is simply the happiness that you gain from doing something, whether the happiness is for you or someone you apportion about.In the end, someone is happy. If youre in sloppiness on a certain closing and dont know what to do, you can simply accommodate the greatest happiness theory and make your decision based on that. That way, you dont look selfish only thinking about your happiness and people give respect that choice and someday repay your kindness by sacrificing their happiness for yours. By sacrificing your happiness for someone else already makes you good human being. Its fits to show that our actions catch consequences. If someone cares only about his/her actions alone, he/she wouldnt have many friends ue to the pretermit to affection and concerns that he/she shows towards former(a)s. Another important advantage of utilitarianism is when youre faced with a chall enging and knockout task it gives you the methodology of choosing the right path, the one that will benefit the most people. Instead of questioning how beneficial it will be for you. You begin to value other peoples happiness over your own. wherefore giving you the best possible option. Though it is good to put other before you, utilitarianism has its disadvantages as well.This item philosophical theory has many disadvantages, but the one that matters to me is. Utilitarians only care about happiness, whatever brings the greatest amount of people the greatest amount of happiness. Sure, happiness is good, but what about people who dont get that happiness. For example out of 50 people, 35 of them get happiness. What happens to the other 15 people? Are we to just ignore how they step? They are humans too, they have feelings as well. We cant abandon them just because the other 35 people are happy. Secondly, if we care about others more(prenominal) than we care about ourselves.How ca n we possibly be able to live with ourselves? We cant endlessly be looking out for other people. We have to take care of ourselves as well. In the end, its our life. We have to look out for ourselves and make the decisions based on how well our life is going to be. theres a saying in the far-famed movie pirate of the Caribbean Even a good decision if made for the wrong reasons can be a wrong decision(Jonathan Pryce, 2003) So, I powerfully believe that when it comes to making life changing decisions, we must always put ourselves before others.