Equality, Justice and Greatest Happiness

Paper Summary:

The paper begins with an assertion of the need for utilitarian philosophers to cite secondary principles of justice and fairness to allow people in a society to pursue happiness peacefully alongside one another. This statement takes the discussion into a definition and consideration of individual rights, both moral and legal. Fairness and what each person deserves are then brought in as elements of the practical concept of justice. Finally the notion of equality is discussed as an important aspect of utilitarian justice.

From the Paper:

"Lyons makes the case for the ability of rights to "trump" one another . He argues that Mill's understanding of the concept of rights is not as rigid as some have seen it, and that rights have a flexible quality, and so, in certain circumstances, can be forfeited, or overridden. Essential to this is his assertion that "no rights are regarded by Mill as absolute". Lyons sees this belief in Utilitarianism because Mill goes into detail discussing examples where a right may not morally deserve to be kept by the agent, such as when the behavior of a person to whom an individual owes a debt is such to forfeit this right to remuneration. So, it is not an impossible idea that some rights can trump others. Under utilitarianism, therefore, it is to be assumed that the right which trumps the other is that which causes greater general happiness."

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