The Ethicist-Utility Judgment
According to Randy Cohen, using one’s personal connections to achieve a goal is an immoral action, contrary to the opinion of a true utilitarianist. In the specific case of Michael Grimaldi and his wife, the problem’s solution increased happiness, which proves that it was moral, no matter what the means. They faced two choices; to be unhappy with the rest of their neighbors without using a relationship to their advantage, or to increase everybody’s happiness by making a phone call with the power they had. After notifying the utility company, instead of waiting with a potentially dangerous utility pole in their yard, the couple used their personal advantages to fix it. To utilitarianism, who cares how they did it? All that matters is the outcome. And by using their advantage, they did improve happiness, which makes their actions moral. Cohen is obviously not speaking with a utilitarianist voice.
ndianapal1 said,
June 5, 2007 at 7:09 am
i tend to agree with the utlitarian view of things here. I can even apply it to my own life. WHO CARES!? who comes in to work the evening shift at my job, i tell my boss time and time again, whether it will be me or someone else, at least you know someone will be there. He always says it does matter. Now, i stop and think, since he gives us a list of work to do, that one of the two of us managers is getting treated differently than the other, so as usual, i am sitting and trying to be patient, but i think that it is right, in my opinion and situation, for me to agree with the utilitarian view, but i think it raises the overall happiness of the public when a person is behind the counter to serve them and not making them wait, which happens when either one of us is working.