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Reflection Paper On Jeremy Bentham (Philosophy)
Reflection Paper On Jeremy Bentham (Philosophy)
Would you suffer pain in order to gain happiness? You may think twice. It is hard to
decide on something when it involves pain. Thus, the idea of Utilitarianism arises. The general
idea of the principle of utility primarily focuses on evaluating man’s action according to the
consequence it will result to. Man would resolve to arrange his action to that ends in pleasure
than pain. Pleasure and Pain motivates us in making decisions and actions believing that what
when an action causes us happiness and diminish pain then it is the right thing to do and it gives
the opposite effect then we made an error in decision. Should this always be absolute? For
Bentham it is not, for pleasure should be magnified not only to itself but to its intensity,
proximity, duration, certainty, fecundity and purity. It is not enough that a person reach
happiness. One must also be able to evaluate whether the pleasure they are experiencing is in its
height. Is there no greater pleasure above it? Is the effect in long-term? Is it worth all the pain?
Does it affect the interest of the community? One must evaluate if the pleasure will constitute to
measure the value of the person. If a person finds pleasure in cannibalism or masochism then
there might be errors in his/her judgment. Therefore, pleasure and pain in Utilitarian approach
should not be taken individually but in consideration to the general pleasure in relation to
personal pleasure. It is the desire to diminish pain in order to make a better community.
From the moment one person achieves pleasure, He must evaluate pain in order to decide
whether that pleasure is good or not. Take for example, the excruciating difficulty of writing a
Thesis Paper. For a senior student it is a pre-requisite in order to graduate, but it hard to think of
a good topic to research, finding several literature to support it could mean sleepless nights and
less gimmick. A student therefore sacrifices pleasurable things and experience pain.
Nevertheless, at the end of the semester, when one finally passed the Defense and is guaranteed
to graduate then the student will be experiencing the worth of his works. The pleasure achieved
through pain. It is when one experience pain that they give greater value to pleasure. Was the
improved knowledge and develop academic rigor in one person. The pain experienced through
the process of writing the thesis paid off when one passes the defense therefore giving value to
the pain experienced. It is the culmination of their work. Having passed the Thesis means
graduating there the pleasure of passing the defense leads to the pleasure of graduating (Pleasure
leading toward another pleasure). By the end of the year, pain will be diminished it will be all
charged to experience but the pleasure of achieving sometime will lingers and stays(sum of all
pleasure and pain, pleasure is of greater essence). The time the student graduated, he/she will be
able to find a job therefore be able to help his/her family and even pay taxes that will be used for
the government funds, The pleasure of passing the defense and producing a thesis leads further to
The principle of utility therefore emphasized that one should have better realization of the
things that are pleasurable for them. They must be able to assess whether the pleasure they want
constitute to the betterment of the society or just address one’s selfish interest. A person above
all, must examine themselves in order to identify whether their values are right in moral terms. If
not then move to correct it, instead of wanting to engage in corruption just for the mere pleasure
of moneymaking try to assess the consequence. You may be rich for a moment but pleasure is
short-term if there is error in intention. What is long-term to an erroneous notion is Pain, and that
pain will be experience in jail for years. It is then an individual should always strive for to the
parallelism of their interest to the interest of the society because through this one does not only
find pleasure for themselves but also contribute to find greater happiness to the community.