Social

1. It is always possible to take happiness too far as an individual or a society. Utilitarian’s believe in maximizing happiness and minimizing unhappiness for the greater good. If these beliefs were taken too far then it could result in a damaged society or even deaths. Wealthy Individuals who have earned their money fairly get taxed more than the individual who does not have much money because they have more happiness to share. I don’t think this is fair because the person worked for hard for their wealth so they could benefit their personal life and with the utilitarianism belief system it does not matter how hard you work, you will all get the same amount of pleasure. This would cause society to become lazy because no one would have any motivation to try to become more successful. Important jobs that people don’t like to do might not get done either because these jobs would cause the majority of people unhappiness even though if the jobs got done then the society might benefit a lot more. A utilitarian would have to come up with ideas so the people would want to do the jobs that cause them discomfort. In some cases individual’s lives could be put at risk or taken while doing something that would benefit society as a whole and the individual’s lives would not be a concern. <br />If I lived in a society where pursuing pleasure as the highest good we would have laws that decreased any sort of unhappiness. A law that might exist would be that everyone gets the same wage no matter what their job is so that nobody feels sad that they don’t get paid as much as someone else might be earning. Another law a utilitarian society might have is you only have to attend school on days that you want to because then children would not have to feel unhappy about going to school every day. <br />Some activities that encourage pain or discomfort but are valuable and worthwhile would include going to school and working for the army. Most people do not enjoy going to school because they don’t like doing homework, assignments, or tests. School can be very stressful but even though it may cause discomfort children are still required to go to school because having an education will be beneficial in the future. A utilitarian might support children to go to school by paying them. Men who work as soldiers may have to deal with a lot of discomfort because their job is very dangerous and their lives are often being risked. The job of a soldier is very valuable because they help prevent harm to a larger group. A utilitarian would support this by constantly reminding the soldier of how many more people they are helping and maybe they could earn higher wages for having such a dangerous job. <br />In my opinion utilitarianism is not a good thing for a society. I don’t think it is fair to be taxed more just because you have more money. If it’s your money and you earned it fairly then I don’t think the government has a right to take it away just to please people who are too lazy to work harder to get a better pay. I value individual happiness over group happiness because when you have to make the group happy then as an individual you have to give up some of your personal success and freedom. I do not agree with utilitarianism because it does not allow for growth in personal success and I feel an individual’s life is more important than a groups well being. <br />