To fully understand the entwinement of these two ideas, the information will be split up into two defined sections. The first will include an overall history of utilitarianism, its roots in the ideologies of Jeremy Bentham, and its refinement in the hands of John Stuart Mill. The second section will take an in-depth look at the overall idea of euthanasia, a history of the laws that have defined euthanasia, specific cases of euthanasia, and how the decision-making system of utilitarianism can be applied to these.
Utilitarianism
Modern day utilitarianism continues in its roots of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill principles and practices. Becoming fully composed in the 19th century, the general guide of this theory is that the morally correct decisions should …show more content…
Though some modern scholars may not fully agree with all of the core principles of classical utilitarianism, it has had a large part in developing the field of philosophy and ethics. Classical utilitarianism consists of the principles of measuring morality on the pleasure of individuals and collective society, impartiality and agent-neutrality, Bentham’s calculus of pain versus pleasure compensation, and the modified views of Mills including quantitative pleasure differentiation and long-term versus short-term pleasure gauging. This moral decision-making system of utilitarianism will be useful in understanding the role of euthanasia in our world today and its ethical