Does utilitarianism threaten individual rights
Write a 3-5 page response to the prompt below.Papers should be double-spaced, and in 12-point Times New Roman font, with 1-inch margins.Papers are due in class on Thursday, 26 September 2019. Your assignment will be evaluated based on your 1) grasp of the key ideas under consideration, 2) the clarity of your thesis, and 3) how well you provide reasons to support your thesis.
Jeremy Bentham famously called rights, “nonsense upon stilts.”Does utilitarianism threaten individual rights? What if the total of the pain caused by sacrificing the civil rights of a few is less than the total of the pleasure derived as a result by the many?
John Stuart Mill tried to rebut the objection that utilitarianism cannot account for individual rights. He argued that far from being in tension with individual rights, the principle of utility was actually the justification for protecting rights. Mill believed that protecting individual rights is the best way to increase the sum of happiness in the long run. Was Mill right in your opinion? Either way, consider to what extent concerns about overall utility should be the reason why we should not violate people’s basic rights.Should we subject questions such as the life of an individual or the well being of certain individuals and such matters to utilitarian calculations?
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