.
The most beneficial aspect of Utilitarianism in my opinion is the fact that it is a moral theory with the main focus on social reform. Since pleasure and pain are the only factors that are able to measure good and evil, every living being has equal rights. This is because regardless of gender, race, and even species, all living things have the capacity to feel pleasure and pain. On page 20 of John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism, he even goes as far as to say "For certainly no known ethical standard decides an action to be good or bad because it is done by a good or bad man," meaning someone who does not have good character can still be moral if they follow the principle of utility. Utility is also called the greatest happiness principle. To me, it is an extreme form of democracy because utilitarians try to appeal to everyone and their overall goal is to have everyone do what is best for the greater good. As humans, we long to be accepted into society as well as have a desire for optimal pleasure and less pain. This moral theory covers all of the bases in that sense. .
The greatest criticism I have when it comes to Utilitarianism is the contradiction between how it describes human nature and what it expects from humans. Utilitarianism claims that humans are completely egotistical beings, but also that we would not choose a lower pleasure over a higher pleasure. This does not make sense to me because if humans are egotistical by nature, then it would not matter to an individual what another believes is a lower or higher form of pleasure. Additionally, completely selfish beings would not care about anyone's pleasures except their own. Expecting them to follow a social contract whose main purpose is to maximize the amount of people experiencing pleasure would not be reasonable. Utilitarianism says that we do not need to be martyrs or heroes. As Mill puts it on page 17, "A sacrifice which does not increase or tend to increase the sum of total happiness, it considers as wasted.
