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Utilitarianism is based on the Greatest Happiness Principle (GHP). A utilitarian would argue that what makes an action right or good is if it increases happiness, not just personal happiness but happiness of all involved in the situation. This is the GHP. Utilitarians also believe that there is only one intrinsic good, a good that doesn’t depend on anything else, and that is happiness. Mill added that all actions are instrumentally valuable. Being instrumentally valuable as a means to get to happiness, the only intrinsically valuable thing. If one were to ask Jeremy Bentham why he thought people should keep promises he would say, “…That it is for the advantage of society they should keep them…It is for the advantage of the whole number that the promise of each individual should be kept. (Bentham)” Bentham is saying here that a promise should be kept if it resulted in good consequences social benefit. If Bob Drugdealer made a promise to his parole officer that he would quit selling dope, should he keep his promise?
Approximate Word count = 635
Approximate Pages = 2.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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