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Fall 2002

ISSN 0890-913X

Volume 18, Number 1

Categories: Fall 2002

The Failure of Utilitarian Ethics in Political Economy

Paul A. Cleveland, Birmingham-Southerm College

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TheFailureofUtilitarianEthicsinPoliticalEconomyPaulA.ClevelandBirmingham-SouthernCollegeAnormativeargumentmusthaveanormativepremisewhetheritisexplicitlystatedornot.AsGordonClarkpointsoutinoneofhisphilosophicessays,itissimplynotpossibletologicallyarriveattheconclusionthatpeopleoughttobehaveinsomespecifiedwaysimplybecausesomeoneprefersitthatway(Clark,1992,pp.7-8).Themostpopularethicalphilosophytoemploywithrespecttoissuesofethicalbehavioratthecurrenttimeappearstobeutilitarianism.Yet,mostpeopleusethisapproachalmostbydefaultandrarely,ifever,explicitlyacknowledgethatsuchapointofreferenceisinherentintheargumentsthattheymake.Theresultisthatpublicpolicydebatesareoftencarriedonwithouteveracknowledgingtheinherentflawsintheunderlyingethicaltheorythatresidesbehindthescene.Indeed,thewidespreadconfusionoverthispointisoneoftheprimaryreasonswhywesternmarketeconomieshavecontinuedtodrifttowardsthereadyacceptanceofsocialistpolicies.EdmundOpitzhasrightlyobservedthatutilitarianismwithitsAgreatesthappinessprinciple@completelyneglectsthespiritualdimensionofhumanlife.Rather,itsimplyAassertsthatmenareboundtogetherinsocietiessolelyonthebasisofarationalcalculationoftheprivateadvantagetobegainedbysocialcooperationunderthedivisionoflabor@(Opitz,1992,p131).But,asOpitzshows,thisperspectivegivesrisetoaseriousproblem.Sincetheftisthefirstlaborsavingdevice,theutilitarianprinciplewillinevitablyleadtothecollectiveuseofgovernmentpowersoastoredistributeincomeinordertogaintheAgreatesthappiness@insociety.Regrettably,therentseekingbehaviorthatwillinevitablybespawnedasaresultofthismindsetwillprovedetrimentaltotheeconomy.Nevertheless,thiskindofactionwillbejustifiedasthatwhichismostsociallyexpedientsoastoreachtheassumedethicalend.AUtilitarianism,inshort,hasnologicalstoppingplaceshortofcollectivism@(Opitz,p.132).If

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Metadata [hide]

Title	The Failure of Utilitarian Ethics in Political Economy
Authors/Creators:	Paul A. Cleveland, Birmingham-Southerm College
Year:	2002
Volume:	18
Number:	1
Pages:	16 - 28
Publisher:	The Association of Private Enterprise Education
ISSN:	0890-913X
Document Type:	Articles

Citation:
Cleveland, Paul A. / 2002. "The Failure of Utilitarian Ethics in Political Economy." The Journal of Private Enterprise, 18(1): 16-28.