Examine the features of Utilitarianism which make it appealing to many.

One feature of utilitarianism which makes it attractive to many is the initial appearance of rationality behind each argument. It seems to be similar to an ordinary humans’ way of making decisions. For each alternative course of action, we measure the benefits of pursuing it), we look at the costs and we weigh the benefits against the costs. Then, following this our choice is made usually based upon which factor has the most benefits compared to drawbacks. It seems the simplest and most rational way of making quick decisions, and is relatively easy to do. This essentially highlights how practical Utilitarianism appears to be. Roughly speaking, it assesses the question of what to do in terms of what we want to achieve and chooses the way in which it would be best achieved. Utilitarianism takes no past or future preference into consideration, and deals solely on an individual level. Another aspect of the ‘practicality’ of utilitarianism is the fact that in assessing the rightness and wrongness of actions, we are meant to look only at their consequences and not try to get into the mind of the agent to assess her motives. Utilitarianism also has the merit of being quite simple and easy to understand, at least at a theoretical level. Instead of recognising a wide range of different goals, which need to be weighed against one another, which often takes a long period of time, a single goal is taken as the greatest, and all others downgraded to the status of a mere means to the achievement of that aim. Utilitarianism has always been referred to as a somewhat ‘scientific’ way to overcome social/personal problems. . Utilitarians are often atheists, and cynical of the normal concept of religion. This hard-headed, ‘scientific’ approach is another feature that many find appealing.