Can you think of other situations in which maximizing general welfare requires us to perform actions that according to common sense morality are immoral?
72 Comments
Anya
5/20/2015 02:19:59 am
Communist Russia. Millions of people died in the name of maximizing general welfare.
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Cole Lyons
5/20/2015 02:20:22 am
I agree! Great point!
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DaVon Browne
5/20/2015 02:24:21 am
I agree with you Anya
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Freddy
5/20/2015 03:51:24 am
I agree, this example fits the question perfectly.
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Rebecca
5/21/2015 02:30:42 am
I agree with Anya, Russia is a great example
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Joanna
5/21/2015 03:56:28 am
I agree, great example
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Thomas
5/20/2015 02:20:28 am
Maximizing the general welfare causes problems in Age of Ultron like situations where the price of happiness is too great.
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Conner
5/20/2015 02:23:43 am
I agree completely. Tony and Bruce attempt to make everyone happier and the world safer and it all ends up going to crap
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Trinity
5/21/2015 08:01:43 am
Yes, there are some things that work in theory, but not on a larger scale. I think if there is anything that the Marvel universe has taught us is that everyone has a different definition of what justice is.
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Naomi Bluband
5/20/2015 02:20:54 am
Yes. If a lives of a bunch of people rely on the sacrifices of just a few to sustain life, then it is moral to perform certain actions that usually wold be immoral
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Clair
5/20/2015 02:21:09 am
Hiroshima, although thousands of people died, it saved millions of people
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Alex Farrell Skupny
5/20/2015 02:24:32 am
I agree Clair, any warlike situation pertains to the general welfare effect.
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Morgan
5/20/2015 03:50:45 am
I agree with Clair, it is a better decision to save the majority.
Tessa
5/20/2015 03:51:32 am
I agree with Clair- although utilitarianistic methods saved a greater population, it killed many innocent people.
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Karla C
5/20/2015 03:52:04 am
I agree, in wartime, we see more of utilitarianism.
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Vanessa M
5/21/2015 02:30:18 am
I agree with Clair
Robert Archer
5/21/2015 02:29:01 am
i agree clair excellent poinT
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Jesus Hernandez
5/20/2015 02:22:12 am
Japanese interment camps
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Alexander T
5/20/2015 02:26:30 am
yep.
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Stephen
5/20/2015 03:33:40 am
ya
Mel Ico
5/20/2015 02:23:00 am
A good example, in my opinion, would be in war when certain decisions will lead to less deaths. It's horrible to know that there will be people dying no matter what decision is made, nonetheless there would be less deaths overall.
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Michele McClure
5/21/2015 02:29:46 am
I agree with you, Mel, that war is a great example in which certain decisions must be made to minimize casualties. So, if that means killing ten children when attacking a powerful enemy who was planning an even huger attack, sacrifices must be made.
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Madison
5/20/2015 02:23:00 am
Often times typically immoral actions have to take place in order to benefit the larger world, and to save lives.
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Jack Preston
5/20/2015 02:23:07 am
Communism.
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Maraya
5/20/2015 02:23:19 am
In war, we are willing to kill thousands of people for the sake of saving millions.
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Lily
5/20/2015 02:23:33 am
Patriot Act. Taking away few rights of people to protect the country from potential terrorists.
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Carly
5/21/2015 02:42:13 am
I agree with Lily. This is the first example that came to my mind as well. It fits the idea of utilitarianism because by doing something that angers the group of people who feel like they have no privacy, the government is able to improve the welfare of the entire country.
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Mandy M.
5/20/2015 02:24:57 am
Maximizing welfare can be problematic. War in general is exemplifies this.
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Landin
5/20/2015 02:25:16 am
Palestine, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt were forced to give up swaths of land to create a Jewish state for the "greater good."
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Enrique Lopez-Segura
5/20/2015 02:25:52 am
When there is a group of people, and one person inside that group is annoying to the rest of the group without knowing it, the rest of the group would probably do their best to avoid the annoying person, and probably start to exclude them more and more. It may seem immoral to isolate a person, but it might maximize the group's general welfare.
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Saul
5/20/2015 03:53:27 am
I agree, you always are going to try to avoid the problem, doesn't matter how
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Julio
5/20/2015 02:31:59 am
This happens in war, sending thousands of people to kill each other in order for the general welfare
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Alondra Plancarte
5/20/2015 03:36:17 am
yeah
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Alani Flores
5/20/2015 03:55:02 am
The sacrificing of thousands of lives during war for the happiness of the future generations may hurt the present and the future of some individuals. For example, a family of four with three now orphan children.
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Alani Flores
5/20/2015 03:59:31 am
This is a really good point.
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Estefani
5/21/2015 02:29:52 am
I agree with Julio sometimes we must do immoral things In order to accomplish security and happiness for many more than we are sacrificing.
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Alondra Plancarte
5/20/2015 03:37:56 am
War is exemplifies this idea of taking actions for benefiting "the greater good," and in retrospect, its usually a sacrifice
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Julia
5/20/2015 03:51:19 am
I agree with Alondra, she couldn't have said it any better!
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Alondra Alcala
5/20/2015 03:51:44 am
Yes. You give up something, to obtain something else.
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Vanessa
5/20/2015 03:57:20 am
I totally agree, you have to sacrifice something to obtain something else, like a kind of cost and benefits.
Adriana
5/20/2015 03:51:56 am
I agree 100%
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karla
5/21/2015 02:30:06 am
I agree with alondra, very well said!
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Clara
5/21/2015 02:31:25 am
I agree with Alondra, in order to make anything happen sacrifice is needed. Making war a good example.
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Cathlian
5/21/2015 07:54:02 am
I agree with Alondra in war the people usually sacrifice soldiers to save millions of lives.
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Sabrina
5/20/2015 03:51:50 am
This concept happens most often in war, the killing of so many for what is perceived as the greater good for people as a whole.
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Gannon Laidlaw
5/20/2015 03:52:44 am
War is a huge example of this
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Lauren Jaffe
5/20/2015 03:57:11 am
That's a good point. War can be controversial because some people think it's necessary for the greater good and some people think it's harmful. It is about killing people, but for the purpose of saving others.
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Josie
5/21/2015 02:19:17 am
I agree with this point
Zach
5/21/2015 08:18:52 am
I agree because they kill thousands of people to save millions
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Marie Van Keuren
5/20/2015 04:02:02 am
I agree with you Lauren. War is very controversial because it deals with killing many for the protection of ones country. The question is it worth killing lives, for the good of everyone else's?
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Erica
5/21/2015 02:29:24 am
Millions of people die in War to maximize general welfare
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Ene Okon
5/21/2015 02:29:30 am
Maximizing the general welfare causes problems like in Avengers 2 situations where the price of happiness is too great.
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Nestor
5/21/2015 02:30:00 am
Pretty much every war. Many people have to die in order to settle something
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Dolly Decker
5/21/2015 02:31:17 am
Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed +129,000 people but saved a lot more lives.
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George W. Bush
5/21/2015 02:45:00 am
One situation that I can see that would maximize the general welfare would be someone's home that they've spent their entire lives in, lived with their wife in that house, tried to raise the children that they never could and shared their dreams in, has to be torn down in order to build an apartment complex for the poor and the old man (who's wife passed away days before) goes on a walk to her grave and when he comes back he finds his house torn down and a case of money (worth more 100x his original house's worth) in it's stead along with a vehicle to carry it to a bank. The apartment complex is built and hundreds of homeless people are given free homes where they can start new lives but the old man simply died from the heartbreaking realization that his wife's memory meant nothing to anyone but him and every bit of that memory is going to disappear. Morally we'd initially feel horrible for the old man but it does benefit more people than it ruined.
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Vicki
5/21/2015 03:57:06 am
Maximizing the general welfare can lead us to do things which are immoral. For example, killing one murderer who has killed many people for the protection of the general welfare. Killing a person is never morally right but since the murderer was killing a lot of people it was for the common good to kill him.
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leidy
5/21/2015 03:57:44 am
Rwandan genocide, or it is arguable to say the holocaust because Hitler believed he was creating a "greater good"
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gus alfaro
5/21/2015 03:58:00 am
we should save the majority because we need more than couple p3opl3 to keep the world going.
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Oscar
5/21/2015 03:58:08 am
A good example, in my opinion, would be in war when certain decisions will lead to less deaths. It's horrible to know that there will be people dying no matter what decision is made, nonetheless there would be less deaths overall.
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Priscila
5/21/2015 03:58:16 am
War is a good example, while it is used to for helping and protecting some people it is also hurting and harming some other people.
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Sarah
5/21/2015 03:58:37 am
Yes, in any war we fight for the general welfare of our country and to protect it by fighting
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anahi fregoso
5/21/2015 03:58:54 am
Cutting down a tree to make a house but then animals won't have a home and insects will die.
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victor
5/21/2015 07:43:41 am
agree a lot of animals depends on trees for their reproduction
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Elia
5/21/2015 03:58:59 am
Fighting for educational rights, specifically in the Middle East, leads to the death or assault of many young girls; even though their purpose is to benefit the community.
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Macklin
5/21/2015 07:28:17 am
In Alaska
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Omar
5/21/2015 07:52:44 am
YES
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Chris Saladin
5/21/2015 07:51:49 am
Internment camps in the U.S.
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Karina
5/21/2015 07:54:02 am
Fighting for the right to receive an education, it is causing many people to die for this cause. However it is meant to benefit a community.
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Nick G
5/21/2015 07:54:19 am
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki > millions of lives lost
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Taylor
5/21/2015 07:54:27 am
Forcing Native American from their land is an example of immoral utilitarianism.
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Ale
5/21/2015 07:55:38 am
Sometimes we must do immoral things In order to accomplish security and happiness for many more than we are sacrificing.
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ryan
5/21/2015 07:57:26 am
the future and peoples rights can be more important than morals
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