The, The Greatest Good For Greatest Number - 1354 Words

The scenario I want to discuss about is whether a Utilitarian would be with or against torture in the given scenario. If a terrorist planted a bomb in a mall, and in order to save the people within it was to torture the innocent terrorist’s daughter, would the terrorist be with or against torturing one to save thousands? Personally with what great knowledge I’ve obtained in class I can automatically say that a Utilitarian would be for torturing the daughter because it’s all about maximizing utility. With that being said A Philosopher by the name of Joshua Green found out just that. Joshua Greene basically argued in his piece â€Å"Moral Tribes† for of which what the â€Å"Father of Utilitarianism†, Bentham, states. Bentham said â€Å"The Greatest good†¦show more content†¦So initially with the innocent daughter of the terrorist, it isn’t about the daughter’s life. It’s bigger than just her; it’s the thousands within the mall. So Bentham of which would be for torture. According to an online dictionary, said by the work of an Italian Philosopher Cesare Beccaria; Bentham formed a belief towards his views about torture. He in certain cases according to the web believed that torture could be justified. Meaning in some cases it can give better results than if not taking in account, removes problems immediately if you may With the use of Hedonic Calculus we can calculate the sum total of pleasure and pain produced from a particular act, thus the total value of its consequences. The units of pleasure are known as hedons, when we run our possible outcomes, the actions that yield the most hedons are the morally good actions. This turns morality into one big cost-benefit analysis. When choosing what action is right we consider the pleasures and pains resulting from it. In other words we look at the extent, intensity and duration. By intensity we mean how intense is the pleasure or pain? According to philosophy Lander Educational site, Bentham apparently thought intensity would vary from zero to infinity. By duration we mean how long does the pleasure of pain last? Also by Extent Bentham meant the total amount of utility or pleasure can be had by summing a similar calculation for every other person who is affected