In this argument I will fight with utilitarianism and will defend Kant’s Principle of morality.

If we focus on the issue of rights, justice and fairness we can easily identify weaknesses of the utilitarianism compared to Kant’s principle. For instance, in the utilitarian society rights of the individual can be easily revoked because the main goal in this society is the happiness of the group. The person has rights only as long as his or her rights don’t interfere with the greatest happiness of the greatest number. As for Kantians, their duties of justice are fulfilled in the first place. 

For Mill your actions may be morally justified if you kill, steal, coerce, lie in favor of the greatest good. For example, utilitarians would allow cheating on your girlfriend. If she did not catch you, you would do well because nobody got hurt and you multiplied the greatest pleasure as a result. For Kant these actions are immoral as they are done contrary to duty and the maxims are directed at treating people as things but not as persons.   

Moreover, utilitarians treat themselves as devices for producing the greatest happiness of the greatest number ignoring their own moral projects. I do not want to be a small part of a vast machine producing the greatest pleasure. I sympathize with Kant’s morality because it defines human beings not as a mere means but as the ends in themselves. I want to perceive my presence in this world as an autonomous biological organism with its own pleasures, needs, rights and intentions that will not harm other members.

Utilitarian methods lack precision in estimating the effects of the consequences on the greatest happiness. What if your action has increased pleasure at this moment but in a year the consequences of that action would reduce the total sum of the good by 150%? How to choose the higher pleasure of two goods if I do not have an experience of both enjoyments? Thus, if we can not control and estimate the outcome of our will, we should reject the morality based on consequences. Kantians, in comparison with utilitarians, can control their intentions. Even if there may be some discrepancies between their intentions and results, these cases are exceptional. Very often what we intend to do is reflected in the immediate results of our action.    

Bibliography:

  • Kant, Immanuel. Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals in Ethics, Edited by Steven M. Cahn, Peter Markie, Fifth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2012.
  • Mill, John Stuart. Utilitarianism in Ethics, Edited by Steven M. Cahn, Peter Markie, Fifth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2012.