what would a utilitarian say?

Question

first of all what is a utilitarian? and second of all a man is indicted for murder. what would a utilitarian say about him deserving a harsh punishment? (i'm NOT asking for your opinion, im asking what a utilitarian would say)

Answer 1

A utilitarian is someone who is always looking after the greatest good of the world. So if a utilitarian could save 100,000 people by sacrificing 1,000 - he/she would do it. It's key to remember that the utilitarian agrees with the statement, "the world should care about the greatest good for the greatest number of people."

As far as punishment for a crime, the answers will vary. But certainly the utilitarian would have to stay true to the greatest good ideal. So, I guess my answer would be - whatever the punishment is, it must be in accordance with what the greatest number of people.

Answer 2

A Utilitarian is a person who has a set of ethical beliefs based on maximizing good for the greatest number of people. A Utilitarian believes that the fairest outcome is the one that maximises the sum of all individual utilities in society. Utilitarian would view life imprisonment as a more harsh punishment and would therefore be in favor of the death penalty.

Answer 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarian#Negative_utilitarianism

While there are positive UTs there are negative UTs (NUs). Positive UTs, as said before, wish the most good for the most people. NUs wish the less bad for the most people. A positive UT may consider the harsher punishment the better depending on their conception for the greater good, and an NU may agree with his positive according to his prediction for the consequence of such a treatment for such a person and the affectuation or feelings of every other person. I am not certain that positive UTs or NUs would consider 'deserving' a valid concept because consequences are conceived as a finite form, and how does one ascribe or prescribe an exact finite value to an inexact finite value.

Answer 4

a utilitarian is a monkey rattling a box of Jeremy Bentham's hat, scarf, keys and jogging galoshes. none of them pursues the notion of punishment being decidable by others (the rest of us). "a criminal is best responded to in his society by being made aware of his own influence on that society."
does "harsh punishment" mean EXCESSIVE punishment? if so, then a utilitarian would not desire that, i guess. [s]he might regard the punishing awareness being given to the criminal to be "harsh", though, e.g. in its depth of woefulness. perhaps if the criminal was a murderer, it would be

Answer 5

A utilitarian would say that others / objects are to be used by him..