Utilitarianism In Brave New World

The novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley presents the idea of a society in which the futures of civilians are predestined and happiness is controlled. At birth, humans are placed into social classes and forced and conditioned to obtain a likeness for things relating to their predestined work and a dislike for all things not relating to their given occupation. Although the society depicted in Brave New World is on its way to embodying the definition of the ideal utilitarian society, it illustrates many inherent defects such as synthetic happiness, loss of identity, and lack of personal fulfillment when looking deeper into the ethical theory of utilitarianism.
As we discussed in class, utilitarianism has two goals: stability and happiness. …show more content…
Like it says in the article, “The Difference Between Happiness and The Meaning of Life” by Scott Barry Kaufman, there is a difference between the pursuit of happiness and the pursuit of meaning. Having meaning allows us to experience fulfillment rather than just a surface level of happiness. For example, the article presents the idea that parenthood comes with many struggles and negative emotions, yet it also gives you such a purpose for living and gives meaning. “It seems that raising children can decrease happiness but increase meaning” (Kaufman, Scientific American). The mass majority of society chooses to endure the hardships and negative emotions that parenthood brings in order to reach the great sense of adoration, bliss, and fulfillment that parenthood also brings. Love, one of life’s greatest treasures, and fulfillment are not a part of the society in Brave New World. The aspect of family is eliminated from the society in its entirety. The civilians in the novel only get a synthetic, surface level happiness from Soma, while they’re deprived of the profound love and deeper meaning to life that family brings. The simple definition of utilitarianism displays an inherent defect in its dismissal of the importance of innate human connection and …show more content…
The differences in people’s identities are what makes life interesting. Having the freedom to choose what defines you is thrilling and exciting. There is a total loss of originality and identity in the society depicted in the novel. In Brave New World, each baby is born from cloned genes and is conditioned to have characteristics that their social class shares; there is nothing unique about it. Therefore, the society illustrates that loss of identity is an inherent defect of utilitarianism. In order to maximize happiness, you must engineer all people of the same occupation to enjoy the same things. It is almost impossible to please all people in society if they are each unique in their likes, dislikes, and characteristics. The reservation illustrated in the novel presents a rebellious and contradictory stance to that of the utilitarian society in Brave New World. They rid themselves of Soma and social classes in order to discover life for themselves as individuals and shape their own identities. “The Savage defiantly [states], ‘I'm claiming the right to be unhappy. Not to mention the right to grow old and ugly and impotent; the right to have syphilis and cancer; the right to have too little to eat; the right to be lousy; the right to live in constant apprehension of what may happen to-morrow; the right to catch typhoid; the right to be tortured by unspeakable pains of every kind. – I claim them

Show More

Related Documents: Utilitarianism In Brave New World

Engineering Fetuses and the Ethical Conflicts Essay