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The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Analysis

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Ask yourselves this question, how many of you would rather not have to see the homeless man on your way to work? What if his being being could allow the rest of society to live happier lives? Utilitarianism, the theory that is most often associated with the principle of the greatest amount of happiness should allow one to answer those questions quite easily. Utilitarianism states that whatever actions allow for the greatest amount of happiness and the least amount of unhappiness should be taken as these are by definition “good”. The suffering of one individual is of very little concern then to the joys of the majority. This concern, the fear that Utilitarianism will simply lead to a tyranny of the majority to increase the maximum amount of …show more content…

Le Gain originally rested on the premise that the happiness of the city was contingent on the total suffering, or maximum pain to child.(1973) Since we have already shown that this premise can never be realistically applied to any real world example and that the original theory of utilitarianism would still lead the society to eventually try to help the child let us now look at the more abstract notion that giving happiness to the child will still lower the overall happiness of the society. Using John Stuart Mill's revised theory we are now able to differentiate between multiple levels or types of pleasure, from the most basic to the most complex and fulfilling. Freedom, one of the greatest forms of pleasure to human beings according to Mills will mean that a society will value its presence above that of simple pleasures.(Mill, 2007) The child being freed in this case may mean that they will not have as much good food, or advancements in technology or anything else of that nature but it will mean that the complex pleasures are greater and therefore the overall levels of utility will be greater. Essentially, through Mill's arguments the decrease in basic pleasures will never outweigh the truly important attributes that a society holds dear. Notice again that none of this is based upon the notion of natural laws or rights, Mill simply argues that these values; rights, liberties, and freedoms are capable of granting …show more content…

These ulterior motives are often political or economic in nature and can have serious consequences on the ability to help those people who are truly in need. If we take the example offered in professor Habibi's paper “Human Rights and Politicized Human Rights: A Utilitarian Critique” we can see that he offers compelling evidence suggesting that International Human Rights organizations such as the Amnesty International, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Human Rights Watch are not acting to establish fair distribution of their resources when lending aid to countries involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.(Habibi, 2007) The concept of true human rights is diluted and ceases to hold as much importance when the cause for action is instead motivated by ulterior means. Another important consideration that people often associate Utilitarianism with is in matters of war. Counter terrorism is at the forefront of American politics and news in recent years. One might assume that Utilitarian theory would be in support of torture in order to prevent future attacks. According to Jean Maria Arrigo the opposite is true.(2004) According to him torture interrogation techniques fails as a measure against

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