I decide to become an animal killer, I have done something wrong, if I do not; I have avoided doing something evil. Moral issues of what kind of person I should be is not something utilitarian's take into consideration. According to utilitarianism, what I should do is look at the net consequences that would occur under each circumstance; this is different from considering what kind of person I ought to be. When I began formulating my ideas for this paper, I thought that I agreed with the Greatest Happiness Principle, and the theory of utilitarianism. However, now that I have completed it, I am compelled to see things differently. I have been raised as a Christian and taught to live by the Creed of the Bible. I was taught to know, fulfill, and understand the words in it. Mill says in his book, “ In the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth, we read the complete spirit of ethics of utility. To do as you would be done by, and to love your neighbor as yourself, constitute the ideal perfection of utilitarian morality.” As I first read through this section, I though that I understood Mills words completely, as well as his usage of the Ten Commandments. Now, I feel as if he contradicted himself. Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you, to me, means just that. If you are a person who treats people badly, how can you expect to in return be treated kindly? In any case, does this make people happy? Love thy neighbor as thy love thyself would be a wonderful concept. Yet, in the case that you live next door to a serial killer, would it be possible to truly love that person? Again, I ask if it would really make a person happy to love a murderer? My point is this, what exactly does the Ten Commandments have to do with attaining one’s greatest happiness? How do they constitute utilitarian morality? I see how they could constitute human morality, but not this theory of eternal happiness. Mill’s arguments calls for us to act...
