I think I have a decent understanding but love learning more and new perspectives help. Also what are the opposing viewpoints/philosophies?
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The basic idea is that something is ‘right’ when it results in the greatest overall ‘good’.
Put like this, it sounds very reasonable and sensible, and arguably sounds very ‘right’. Who wouldn’t want to achieve the greatest overall good in the world?
However this raises a number of significant ethical questions and dilemmas:
1) What is ‘good’ and what is ‘bad’? e.g. most people agree lying is ‘bad’….but is it ‘bad’ to lie when the truth would also cause pain and hurt? Or is it ‘good’ to tell hurtful truth to prevent people living in a fool’s paradise? It can be very hard to determine what is the ‘right’ thing to do when we can’t even agree on what is ‘good’.
2) How do you define ‘greatest good’? Just because a majority would benefit from something doesn’t mean it’s necessarily ‘good’. White supremacy would favour a majority white society…does that mean it’s the ‘greatest good’ outcome?
3) It can get twisted heavily into a sort of ‘Might Is Right’ or ‘The End Justifies The Means’ judgement, where anything is justified or ‘right’ if it ultimately benefits the greatest number. Things like warfare or eugenics could be supported by these sorts of arguments.
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