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ribozyme
Guest
Does utilitarianism promote relativism?
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rr1213
Guest
Sure, the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Even with “enlightened” utilitarianism which measures “good” in a broader fashion than narrow self-interest, you still will find yourself in situations where you are justifying behavior that would be immoral based on the utility of the behavior. For example, a gunman has 1000 hostages that will die when he denotates his bomb (big bomb). His demand is that you kill a particular person…the gunman’s former wife against whom he has a grudge…or he will kill the thousand hostages. You could make a utilitarian argument that you should kill the wife in order to save the 1000 hostages, but that would be a relativistic decision…the morality of the action chosen would arguably depend on the utility of the action chosen.
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ribozyme
Guest
I would agree that utilitarian requires some relativism, but it does provide some prescriptions for ethical conduct.
I do think that your scenario would not be considered in the realm of practical ethics as such a scenario is quite rare though.
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rr1213
Guest
Let’s hope so, but there are a lot of very bad people out there. For example, let’s say that you are a Palestinian nationalist who is striving mightly to achieve a Palestinian State where you people will be free and in control of their own destiny. You consider the current Palestinan Authority, however, to be lackeys for Israel. So, to help bring down that government, you shoot and kill three young boys under the age of ten, sons of an important official in the Abbas government. A hard decision? Yes, of course. A harsh action? No doubt. But necessary to achieve the glory of a free Palestine? Yes, yes of course. And, of course, many thousands of lifes may be saved by this bold action if a State can be established now, as opposed to many more years of Israeli occupation and oppression.
Stuff like this happens and it’s sometimes justified on utilitiarian motives, as well as religious fanatism.
NOTE: POST ABOVE IS NOT THE OPINION OF THE POSTER AND HAS BEEN USED AS AN ILLUSTRATION OF FANATICAL THINKING ONLY
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Mersenne
Guest
Utilitarianism would state that it would be silly to kill such a person, because you have no guarentees we won’t detonate the bomb and no way to know he won’t use the hostage situation to make more demands. Considering that he’s willing to kill people he’s probably willing to lie. Further, the person you are trying to kill could kill you or her family could come after you and your family later. Utilitarianism tells us to try to save the hostages but not to give into any demands, and it also tells us something that faith or gut instinct never will, WHY it’s the right thing to do, which allows us to answer harder moral questions and allows us to convince other people that our morality is right.
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FurmanTM
Guest
Act and Rule utilitarianism are both consequentialist moral theories and in that sense they are “relativistic”. But all things considered, in no way do the Act Utilitarian and/or Rule Utilitarina believe that they are relativists. A moral relativist is one who asserts that there is no objective truth concerning moral claims… The Act Utilitariam and the Rule Utilitarian believe that there is a morally right thing to do in any givien situation…
FurmanTM
FurmanTM
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FurmanTM
Guest
Something to think about…
The sacrifice of Jesus for our sins is the sacrifice of one for the many… isn’t this the heart of utilitarian thinking?
FurmanTM
The sacrifice of Jesus for our sins is the sacrifice of one for the many… isn’t this the heart of utilitarian thinking?
FurmanTM
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dsb1808
Guest
John Stuart Mill seemed to think so. It also seems consistent with Boethius in The Consolation of Philosophy and with other Christian writers.
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francisca
Guest
It was what the high priest said when he decided to kill Jesus. But God was not on his side, because Jesus, after He died, He rose again. Such thinking will make somebody find himself an opposition to God.
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francisca
Guest
Below is the passage from the gospel to show how Caiaphas think when he decided to kill Jesus.
John 11
49Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all!
50You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
51He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
Such thinking, is in opposition to God, but the whole story shows that God wins. Our story of salvation include all kinds of men’s philosophies against those of God’s mind.
John 11
49Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all!
50You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
51He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
Such thinking, is in opposition to God, but the whole story shows that God wins. Our story of salvation include all kinds of men’s philosophies against those of God’s mind.
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