Week 3-Post 2

     Utilitarianism is moral reasoning that the correct decision, is the decision that has the outcome with the most happiness generated. There are 2 main objections to this way of reasoning. The first one states that utilitarianism fails to respect individual rights because utlitarianism focuses on the overall outcome, so it looks at situations from a big perspective rather than a small one, then fails to acknowledge individual rights. The second objection states that it is not possible to assign values to things. This objection comes from the fact that utilitarianists believe that it is possible to choose a preference based on the value of each one. John Stuart Mill is a phiosopher that took these objections into account and created a utilitarian way to solve them. He wanted to see if he could find a way to humanize utilitarianism and decided that in order to determine the higher pleasure, one must try both options then choose the one that you prefer most/find more meaningful without any outside influence or pressure. Another big form of moral reasoning is Libertarianism. This strong theory of rights declares that individuals matter and are not instruments to be used for a larger piece. So libertarianists strongly believe that the fundamental individual right is the right to liberty. They also have libertarian views toward government policies. An example is their disagreement with paternalist legislation like seatbelt laws. It may be a good thing people wear seatbelts, but libertarianists would say that the government does not have a right to coerce people to wear them. It is up to the individual if they want to take the risk of getting hurt.

     Libertarian views of the government bring into light the idea of self posession. If self posession is taken into consideration, then one can go off of that to determine whether income distribution (taxation to the rich) or paternalist legislation is just or not. The conflicting beliefs of libertarianism and utilitarianism spark up debates about the justification behind actions. From the opinions formed, one can figure out what type of moral reasoning they fit in with, and apply it to real life situations.