8217;s parents do not want their son to be taken away from them bad prosecuted, they must realize the severity of the situation. If Jim’s parents decided to elude the police and continue to protect Jim, they too would be violating moral and ethical laws established by society and their God. Mortimer would argue that Jim’s parents must rely on reason and not their feelings because “to make the body obey the reason (mind) is in harmony with nature. (pg. 268).” Through reason, without being contaminated by the functions of the body, Jim’s parents are able to justifiably acknowledge the morally correct solution to their situation. What if the parents are unable to distinguish the morally correct decision? Mortimer says that, when we are unable to make a morally correct decision, our conscience will provide the morally correct answer. Ultimately, it is our conscience that allows us to decipher the morally good from the morally wrong. According to Mortimer, if the solution “is contrary to a man’s own conscientious judgment there is a higher obligation . . . to obey one’s own conscience. (Pg 272)” Through our conscience we establish the right/moral solution to a situation. After analyzing the Smith’s morally problematic situation, Mortimer would argue that society and God morally obligate Jim’s parents, to turn him over to the authorities. Jim’s parents must look beyond their sensations and realize that Jim has committed a serious crime and that it is God’s will for him not to be punished, but corrected. However, the ethical principle of utilitarianism provides Jim’s parents with a different situation.John Stuart Mill developed the ethical principle of utilitarianism in the 1860s. Utilitarianism states that moral good is that action, which brings about the greatest happiness and least pain for the greatest number affected by that act because humans, naturally, ...
