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Creative Potential Ethics
Introduction
by Jeffrey Sax
December 17, 2002
Questions of right and wrong have been on the minds of philosophers since
antiquity. Many theories have been constructed. Among the most elegant is
utilitarianism, developed by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. The idea is
simple: the right action is the one that produces the greatest happiness for
everyone. The theory comes with its problems, however. How do we define
‘happiness’? How do we assess everyone’s happiness in a practical manner? Not
in the least, utilitarian reasoning would suggest that it is sometimes
justified to violate the rights of the individual for the benefit of the
masses.
We propose to replace greatest happiness with greatest creative potential as the
principal criterion for rightness. We will show that most of utilitarianism’s
problems no longer apply. We will discuss how creative potential is related to
personal freedom, and to human emotions.
Contents | Forward to History of
Utilitarianism