Consequentialism Is Wrong

Consequentialism is a theory suggesting that the morality of an action is judged solely by its consequences. This is what is defined as the greater good; a decision made that would lead to further progression and would positively impact the majority of a community, from which personal satisfaction is gained. It is argued that to achieve the greater good, one must do a little wrong. Wrong is etymologically a negative of right. For an act to be deemed as wrong, it has to physically or mentally hurt a group of people or an environment, or it has to be an act that would go against the law. Hence, I do agree with the statement that to achieve the greater good one must do a little wrong. There are a few reasons as to why wrong has to be done to achieve …show more content…
With a limited amount of resources, more effort and time is required to handle an issue. With these as restrictions, the possible options one can take to approach a situation is thus reduced. Take the one child policy, for example. The one child policy was a family planning policy practiced in China, which was first introduced from 1978-1980 and was abolished in 2015 (Wong, 98, the Making of China's One-Child Policy). This policy was introduced to control the issue of overpopulation in China. At the time, China was limited in terms of land space and resources. This raised major issues like food shortage, environmental damage and illegal development and construction of houses. Hence, drastic measures were be taken to resolve the situation. After implementing the policy, the average birth rate was reduced to 1.5 children per couple, and up to 400 million births were prevented. Though the one child policy was considered morally wrong to some as it disheartened citizens and led to issues like depression, the greater good was achieved. The one child policy is one of the main reasons why China now has the world’s second-largest economy. At the time, China was a developing country hence the most cost effective method to approach this situation was by implying the one child policy. Though it may not have been ethically right, results proved that this method was …show more content…
Thomas Hobbes’ concept believed that the basic nature of human beings was to be greedy, selfish and cruel which can be seen in our everyday lives. Global warming, terrorism, poverty, gender inequality are just a few of the major issues faced in the world today. Sadly, us humans are the sole causes of these issues. This happens not because humans want to deliberately hurt the rest of the world, but due to the fact that it is in our nature to do what benefits us. Take damaging the environment for an example. Us humans burn down huge plots of forests and destroy natural habitats so we can have more land to construct buildings. We test on animals because we want advancements that will keep us from getting sick and allow us to live longer. It always comes back to us and what would benefit us, which is what we deem as the greater good. However, these benefits are attained through damaging and hurting our environment, which is deemed wrong. Taking part or supporting unethical doings for personal gain, proves that for the greater good to be achieved, wrong has to be