by Denyse O'Leary
There are more ways to destroy the human race than reducing it to a pile of smoldering corpses, and John Stuart Mill championed one of the most drab, utilitarianism. Even so sympathetic a scholar of Mill as Max Lerner felt compelled to say of Utilitarianism that Mill's "little book ... leaves a trace of dust in the mouth." For the unsympathetic, Utilitarianism leaves considerably more than a trace, perhaps enough to fill one's shoes and socks as well. Yet no one can gainsay the enormous influence that Mill's "little book" has had. (p. 73)
Why was the utilitarian idea that "pleasure = good and pain = bad a problem?
If morality is reduced to pleasure and pain, must be included in the moral calculation. But here's the contradiction in the logic. Once we add the entire sentient population of every fish, fowl, reptile amoeba, gorilla, and so forth, the task of ranking and balancing pleasures and pains becomes impossible. A sparrow cannot experience the pleasures of parsing Greek, but if Mill were to use that to deny "quality" to the sparrow's experience of pleasures, then the sparrow's advocate would reply that Mill cannot experience the pleasures of natural flight. Indeed, in the balance of all sentient beings, the sum of our human experience of pleasure and pain is negligible. Of course, modern animal rights activists say exactly this.And it is not a question of avoiding cruelty to animals. Animal rights advocates oppose medical experimentation on animals that eventually helps animals, never mind people. So it becomes self-destructive in the long run. Wiker sums up
He could not envision, for example, the most likely outcome of utilitarianism: that it would lead to a society addicted to ever more intense, barbaric, and self-destructive pleasures, and that its members would be gibbering cowards in the face of even the smallest pains.We are, I presume, all familiar with THAT legacy, well catered for in popular culture.
Next: Ten Worst Books 3: Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man (1871)
Toronto-based Canadian journalist Denyse O'Leary (www.designorchance.com) is the author of the multiple award-winning By Design or by Chance? (Augsburg Fortress 2004), an overview of the intelligent design controversy. She was named CBA Canada's Recommended Author of the Year in 2005 and is co-author, with Montreal neuroscientist Mario Beauregard, of The Spiritual Brain: A neuroscientist's case for the existence of the soul (Harper 2007).
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