Understanding Utilitarianism and Its Challenges

Utilitarianism is a popular way to think about right and wrong. However, it has some big problems when trying to solve ethical conflicts. Let’s break down these challenges:

1. What Makes People Happy?
   The idea behind utilitarianism is to create the greatest happiness for the most people. But happiness is different for everyone.
   People from different backgrounds or cultures have various views on what happiness means.
   For example, what makes one group happy might not work for another group at all.

2. Two Types of Utilitarianism:

   • Act Utilitarianism looks at each action one by one. This can lead to unpredictable and sometimes unfair decisions.
     In tough situations, this might result in choices that don’t seem fair.
   • Rule Utilitarianism uses general rules to create more happiness. However, sticking too rigidly to these rules can ignore what’s special about each situation. This might also lead to unfair results.

3. Balancing Individual Rights:
   Utilitarianism sometimes asks people to give up their rights for the greater good. This can create hard scenarios where the suffering of a few is overlooked for the happiness of many.
   This raises serious questions about fairness and treating everyone with respect.

To tackle these issues, one idea is to mix utilitarianism with deontological principles. By including clear rights and responsibilities with the happiness idea, we might be able to find better ways to solve ethical problems.
Also, talking and finding common ground among different groups can help everyone understand happiness better, making it easier to resolve conflicts.

In summary, while utilitarianism provides a useful way to think about decisions, it has difficulties in real-life situations.
Combining the ideas of utilitarianism and deontological views could lead to better solutions that are fairer for everyone.