How a utilitarian would respond to euthanasia
Utilitarianism is teleological theory, as it mainly concerns the consequences of the moral dilemma rather than the motive itself. The founders, Jeremy Bentham and J.S. Mill, argued that peoples' motives could not be measured, but the consequences of the actions could be. As a result of this, a utilitarian's morality of an action is dependent on the people it concerns, and will vary from person to person depending on their specific situation and views of morality.
Bentham and Mill decided that one should decide whether the action is moral depending on how much happiness or pain it brings as a consequence. The amount of pain or pleasure caused by the action is determined by doing 'Happiness sums'. These are sums adding up pleasure and pain units to find the result which gives the majority of people the most pleasure.
For instance, a person could make a scale, and then consider all of the consequences that action would bring and give it a score of pleasure or pain. Then they could add up all of the numbers and a positive number would show that the person would be happy if they carried out the action, whereas a negative result would show that the action would cause more pain.
The 'morality' of euthanasia would totally depend on the situation of the person and how much happiness or pain they believe assisted suicide would cause them as a consequence and the people around them. This means that it could be viewed as both moral and immoral as people have different outlooks on life and different of how much pain or pleasure euthanasia would cause. The majority of people seeking euthanasia are more likely to view it as moral, because they want to end their pain and suffering to come to an end, and it would result in less future pain. Therefore, most utilitarians believe that there is a difference between murder and letting someone die, if letting them die prevents them from feeling more unhappy and experiencing more pain.
Bentham and Mill decided that one should decide whether the action is moral depending on how much happiness or pain it brings as a consequence. The amount of pain or pleasure caused by the action is determined by doing 'Happiness sums'. These are sums adding up pleasure and pain units to find the result which gives the majority of people the most pleasure.
For instance, a person could make a scale, and then consider all of the consequences that action would bring and give it a score of pleasure or pain. Then they could add up all of the numbers and a positive number would show that the person would be happy if they carried out the action, whereas a negative result would show that the action would cause more pain.
The 'morality' of euthanasia would totally depend on the situation of the person and how much happiness or pain they believe assisted suicide would cause them as a consequence and the people around them. This means that it could be viewed as both moral and immoral as people have different outlooks on life and different of how much pain or pleasure euthanasia would cause. The majority of people seeking euthanasia are more likely to view it as moral, because they want to end their pain and suffering to come to an end, and it would result in less future pain. Therefore, most utilitarians believe that there is a difference between murder and letting someone die, if letting them die prevents them from feeling more unhappy and experiencing more pain.