Persuasive Essay Sample: Utilitarianism Is Not Good Ethical Theory

This essay will discuss how Utilitarianism is not a good ethical theory since it is impractical people can not always get or do the right thing just because it makes them happy. Utilitarianism is where you do whatever will bring the most happiness to the greatest number of people, no matter the consequences. The moral is to do what will bring the most amount of happiness to people instead of seeing if it was morally right or wrong. They may even go against the law to ensure that the greatest number of people have happiness.

Utilitarianism is a not good ethical theory because Utilitarianism prioritises overall happiness rather than protecting individual rights, so if someone were to do something bad, they might still do it since it would be making the most people happy and that is what utilitarians believe. For example, if someone were to murder someone that no one liked, and it made most people happy utilitarians believe that would be the right thing even if they were killing an innocent person. So, Utilitarianism is a not good ethical theory since people can be unsure of what is morally right or wrong.

Some may argue that Utilitarianism is a good ethical theory because it encourages others to use reason rather than letting our emotions get the best of us. Utilitarianism encourages people to think and weigh out the consequences and what is going to happen in different scenarios rather than thinking about what will be emotionally beneficial to them. Knowing what would make the most people happy instead of letting your emotions plan makes it a lot easier than if you had to think about it. So, this is a reason why some may argue that Utilitarianism is a good ethical theory since people can make good decisions based on what is going to make the most people happy instead of our emotions.

However, Utilitarianism is a not good ethical theory because there is only one rule it is vague. Utilitarianism isn’t very clear in what is right and wrong since there is only one rule meaning that people could end up doing the wrong thing because there are not enough rules to tell them otherwise. Someone could end up stealing because it makes all their family happy if they are richer but since there are no other rules people might not think that stealing is bad and might understand it as if they can do anything if it makes the most people happy. So, this is a reason why Utilitarianism is a not good ethical theory since there is only one rule and people don’t know right to wrong meaning it could end up badly.

 However, some may argue that Utilitarianism is a good ethical theory because it is a relativist theory, so it is flexible to the situation, and it is a good principle to lead a life with. Wanting life to make the most people happy is a good principle because you are thinking about others rather than yourself and are making the most amount of people happy. A good example would be the trolley problem, where there is a train and it can go two ways, one way ending up killing one person or the other way killing 4 people. Utilitarians would go the way killing one person because it would make the most amount of people happy. So, this is a reason why some may argue that Utilitarianism is a good ethical theory since it is a good belief to have with you.

Overall, Utilitarianism is not a good ethical theory since it is impractical, it doesn’t always fit with our moral decision and could end up badly. Utilitarianism means that people are always doing what will make the most people happy not always doing the right thing and it is not ethically right since not knowing what is right means that you could end up doing the right thing.