notes

What are the faults of liberalism?

‘The greatest good for the greatest number’ flounders when society cannot agree on what is ‘good’ – or ‘bad’. 

Caricature of John Stuart Mill, by ‘Spy’, Leslie Matthew Ward, in Vanity Fair, March 1873.
 John Stuart Mill  had a strict dad who made him hate life. 
Liberalism is based on Utilitarianism.

Cons of Utilitarianism

1. Slave to your own pleasure ex (alcohol, shopping, drugs, overly-sexual and selfish).

2. It creates an unrealistic perspective for society.

3. It creates the potential for the majority to rule through tyranny.

Read furthermore: https://greengarageblog.org/13-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-utilitarianism-theory

Weakness of Utilitarianism: people are inherently selfish.

Utilitarianism also has trouble accounting for values such as justice and individual rights.

Overall, the weakness outweighs the strengths because it Utilitarianism doesn't take into account the feelings or happiness of the minority and also how can we measure pleasure, you cant add a value towards it. Utilitarians believe that the purpose of morality is to make life better by increasing the amount of good things (such as pleasure and happiness) in the world and decreasing the amount of bad things (such as pain and unhappiness).

An example of utilitarianism was the belief that dropping the atomic bomb on Japan was a good idea since it potentially saved more lives than it lost.  Source: https://www.yourdictionary.com/utilitarianism

 Disadvantages of Utilitarianism

Society does not solely focus on happiness when making choices.

Outcomes are unpredictable when dealing with the future. Happiness is something that is subjective. It forces you to rely on everyone else following the same moral code. https://connectusfund.org/utilitarianism-advantages-and-disadvantages

pluralist

Tolerance, openness and understanding towards other peoples' cultures, social structures, values and faiths are now essential to the very survival of an interdependent world.

• Aga Khan IV, in a speech at the Ceremony to Inaugurate the Restored Humayun's Tomb Gardens - New Delhi, India (15 April 2003)

We cannot make the world safe for democracy unless we also make the world safe for diversity.