Utilitarian Philosophy of Happiness Assignment Help
Essay Topic: Design a small country that fosters the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.
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Introduction
During the period of middle ages, people have perceived that happiness is not possible in this earth, and is only applicable in the words of "God". Most of the philosophers have also claimed that the total endurance of happiness is not possible within the human condition (Mulgan, 2018). However, with the change in time, the views regarding happiness changes and are considered as attainable. According to the principle of Jeremy Bentham, the goodness of a person's action should be judged by the utility of its outcomes rather than the honesty of its intentions (Ebenstein, 2018). He defined happiness as the final utility and concluded that people should target to achieve the greatest happiness for the greatest number. Based on his utilitarianism philosophy, happiness is the combination of pleasures as well as pains. His philosophy is based on utilitarianism theory because it focuses on the utility of individuals behavioural consequences. Further, based on the ideas of different theorists, the concept of happiness varies. When happiness is applied for one single individual's choice, the theory often fails. Another utilitarian is John Stuart Mill, who defines that the purpose of mortality is based on the progression of greatest happiness to the maximum number of people residing in society, which is balanced between both pleasure and pains (Lindebaum, & Raftopoulou, 2017). He believes that having mental pleasure is much more superior to that of physical pleasure. It is evident that people with more resources continue to seek happiness but are never truly satisfied from inside. Morality arises by recognizing the individual right and making decisions on the basis of the greatest number of people to be happy. Thus to achieve maximum happiness for the maximum number of people, it is advisable to make the decision in favour of the largest number of people. For this reason, the present time government voting what is he is based on the majority vote. Furthermore according to the ‘greatest happiness principle' decisions should also be made on the basis of predicted consequences in the future (Sachs, 2016).
The present report has outlined the approach towards designing a small country that focuses on the principle of the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. In this context, the discussion is based on principles of happiness, possibilities that falls within this scope, and amendment of economic policies that helps in sustaining these issues. The report will further demonstrate the application of national interests in an efficient manner to reduce the impact of poverty, ill health, corruption, illiteracy, and work pressure.
Principle of happiness
An action is considered as morally right, when it leads to happiness instead of ending in pain. According to the principle of happiness, it is understandable that the concept of happiness lies in living a good life where there is an equal balance between pleasure and pain (Guidi, 2016). However, happy life is attainable by search of happiness and avoiding pain. In conjunction with this, the human should identify the standard of right and wrong deeds. Happiness is related to the positive psychology of an individual where everything is good in the form of ‘well-being' and ‘quality of life'. In simple terms, it is the degree of the extent through which individuals judges the overall quality of their life as a whole. In the happiness principle, ‘the greatest number of people' defines the majority of the population in a country to be considered for happiness. As discussed in the report by Veenhoven (2018), the objective lies behind the concept, which is to motivate the government towards designing laws, policies, regulations, and human conduct that aims to benefit the majority population. Happiness lies in several activities done in our regular life, such as, freedom to choose, honesty, selfless service, spending time with family and friends, helping people, and many more (Veenhoven, 2018).
Possibility of greatest happiness
In order to design the governance of any country, with the objective to preserve the greatest happiness for the majority of people, it is required to follow the approach of making strategies related to poverty eradication, providing health facilities, strengthening educational systems, and reducing corruption. In this approach, it is desirable to target the maximum number of people to be benefitted. However there exists a barrier in this approach for making maximum population happy. In every democratic country, each citizen is assigned with some basic rights to be enjoyed, and these rights cannot be subversion for the sake of happiness of the entire country. However, it is also not justifiable to punish a person only to satisfy and appease the remaining population, despite proven charges against the person. Thus, the principle of Bentham does not hold true for all scenarios.
Thus, in order to design such a country with maximum happiness, first of all, it is required to rectify to foremost aspects. The first one is the quality of the environment we are living in, and the second one is the thinking of each individual. In true sense, happiness lies in the eye of the beholder, which is associated with life satisfaction and subjective well-being. Thus to design a happy country, the foremost criteria is to fulfil the basic requirements of citizens. Considering the country like Zimbabwe, where the average happiness is much lower, that is 3.3 on a scale of 0 to 10, attaining greater happiness seems impossible (Minkov, & Bond, 2017). On the contrary, considering the example of Denmark where the average happiness is 8.2, the possibility for greater happiness is believed to be achievable (Lolle, & Andersen, 2016).
Amendment economic in policies
For creating a happier nation, it is required to make some changes in the existing policy system. Happiness and well-being are associated with health, education, quality of work, family, and environment. Thus, a policy will be designed with respect to health come on education, employment, anti-corruption, equity, and participation. The policymakers well design education policy, beneficiary rule, taxation rule, investment decision by considering the citizen's happiness (Brockmann, Genschel, & Seelkopf, 2016). Furthermore, other policies related to working hours, crime and justice system, city planning, and transport policies will be designed considering individuals well-being status. The policies will be designed to increase employment and job opportunities in all sectors of the country. This will help in minimizing the risk of unhappiness and satisfaction under the impact of unemployment. Furthermore, employment and working hour flexibility will be prioritized in employment policy. Imposing policies for improving work conditions can help in improving profitability as well as individual's happiness. In this regard, the policy will be focused on enhancing workplace flexibility and raising the access to paid leave, which will be directly reflective in the lower employee turnover report. Public policy will be imposed that will financially protect citizens from fluctuating market economy, and promote greater happiness in the country (Musikanski, 2015). The policy will be implemented to reduce the concept of inequality and poverty, which can further contribute happiness to some extent. It is evident that being wealthy cannot make a person happy forever. However, policies will be created to make a balanced population on the basis of the economy by reducing income inequality. The population in low to middle-income countries having greater economic equality are found to be happier as compared to the unequal income countries (Decancq, Fleurbaey, & Schokkaert, 2015). Most of the jobs will be assigned with almost similar salary structure and amenities. This effort will encourage people to pursue any kind of job according to their own interests, irrespective of salary expectations. Hence, the approach is expected to bring mental satisfaction and peace among the people, without any kind of unfair and injustice. In the long run, the GDP of the country will be improved by the implementations of these policies. Often, it would be appropriate to state that a sounds GDP is the reflective of a good standard of living.
Entertainment
Entertainment is important for every human being for relaxation and socialization. It helps them to get diverted from the regular demands of life and enjoy their leisure time. Entertainment is usually pleasurable, fun and enjoyable. Keeping this in mind, entertainment will also be given equal importance to fostering the greatest happiness within the country. In this context, music, dance, movies, plays, the drama will be promoted in the country. Cinema halls, theatres will be opened for a large number of participants. This can reveal their talent and other audience can enjoy the act is a source of entertainment. These sources of the best medium for an individual to get rid of negative emotions such as anger, sadness, and worries. Other sources of entertainment include mass media such as television newspapers, mobile phones, and computers. These entertainment resources not only provide amusement but also makes them aware of the latest news. The more a nation is engaged in entertainment, the more they will be relaxed and can produce a better output. However, strong policies will be imposed in the proposed country to set an indicator that will limit the excessive usage and addiction of digital media. One of the best examples is the United States, where the people I'm falling to suffer from anxiety and unhappiness due to increased use of digital media. In addition to this, frequent cultural activities within a small country will be organized, where people of all age groups can gather and interact with each other.
Health care system
It is a universal fact that health care is directly correlated with happiness. When individuals remain healthy they will stay happy (Mainz, Kristensen, & Bartels, 2015). A country with healthy citizens leads to a healthy economy, as it reduces non-employment, healthcare costs, and absenteeism. It is evident from the best health care facilities provided in some of the European Union nations. For instance, Denmark holds a high quality of healthcare system which is financed majorly through the income tax. The Denmark government has facilitated free medical treatment for Danish and European Union citizens. The healthcare system of Denmark is divided into two parts, general healthcare, and specialized healthcare (Mainz, et al 2015). Thus, for designing a healthy and happy country, a free health care service will be provided to all the citizens, which will include doctor visits as well as prescription drugs. Medicare policy will be made mandatory for tourists in the country (Alexander, & Sandahl, 2016). The free healthcare service will be operated through finance collected through the annual tax from citizens. This will an indirect form of health care charge collected from the citizens, and consequently will not mentally affect them. Moreover, the citizens who are reluctant to pay for health care service gets entitled to the service without a direct mode of paying. Child care health services will be prioritized in the country, for example, immunization will be made compulsory. The healthcare system can be accessed timely and will be based on innovation and high-quality service. The prime objective of the healthcare service will be easy access with minimum wait time read the patient can get the medical appointment on the same day or the next. Apart from this, personal health-related education will be in educational institutions and workplaces, so that people can themselves deal with emergency situations such as heart attacks. Hence, it would be appropriate to state that health care system is a key driven in maintaining a good state of physical and mental state of individual, which in turn can lead to quality of life years.
Transportation
A good and efficient transportation facility has a direct benefit for the environment, economy and the people. A good transportation linkage within the country it's population to access anywhere at any time. It is further believed to reduce the overall cost of living. According to a recent survey in America, it has been revealed that improvement in transportation facilities has helped in increasing productivity along with a raised salary by 1.8%. An efficient and planned transportation system in the country can make its environment greener and pollution free (Sutcliffe, & Cipkar, 2017). For instance, bicycle riding will be promoted forest mall journeys which can reduce traffic congestion as well as carbon emission. As per a recent report, if one in ten journeys is replaced by bicycle, then National Health Services (NHS) will be able to save almost £250 million each year. (Mekuria, Appleyard, & Nixon, 2017) Bicycling is also a form of exercise that can indirectly a healthy lifestyle for the citizens. Furthermore, separate routes will be designed for buses, cycles, trams, trains, and pedestrians. This system will help to reduce congestion and minimize traffic, which can save a lot of time of people, especially for school students and office workers. This effort will have a direct impact on their happiness and work productivity. Public transport will be emphasized among the population, as it will help to minimize the individual's monthly expense and reduce environmental pollution. Moreover, an increase in the number of public transport will maximize job opportunities for local people, thereby reducing the risk of unemployment.
Government System
An effective government system is always considered as a key to a happy country. The government holds the power and authority design policy and laws for the betterment of citizens. A democratic government system is always preferable than the dictatorships type. In democratic governance, the people the country holds the power and right to choose their representatives, irrespective of any hierarchy system (Ho, & NG, 2016). In a democracy, the policy is chosen by the majority population to a decision-making process which is usually termed as in an election. One of the successful forms of democratic government system is in Malaysia, which was introduced since 1946 (Von Vorys, 2015). In this form of governance, the population can exercise control over the matters that interests and affects them. This will directly affect this satisfaction and minimize the pressure of being controlled, and hence lead to a happier nation. The government is entitled to provide a high-quality of Social security, where the citizens will be secured for their future lives (Cheney, 2016). An ideal government will be elected who will be committed to governing for public interest by enhancing citizen's standard of living, health, equality, security and minimizing poverty, stress, and ill-health. In conjunction to this, it will impose strong policies to improve environmental conditions, transportation systems, healthcare facilities, educational systems, and employment opportunities. These are the specific areas that are directly linked with the happiness of people. However, an efficient government representative should also focus on external factors such as improving business practices within the nation, military facilities, renewable sources, and technological prospects in the country (Frey, & Stutzer, 2017). All these factors not only make the life of people easier and pleasurable but also make the country renowned all over the world. For them or the government will also how conducted regular inspection on psychological workplace safety and ensure employee happiness in the workplace. It will take strategic actions for providing free health care service, free education, paid parental leave, paid vacation leave, and a secured sufficient pension and retirement. All these expenses will be covered by the government by collecting taxes from citizens in all types of services and products. Additionally, the government will maintain a fair and justified tax system and impose strict punishment against any kind of corruption.
Scientific Innovation
According to the report of World Happiness statistics, there are six key variables which can increase the level of happiness for a country, that are, healthy life expectancy, generosity, corruption perception, social support, freedom to decide life choices, and income (Kamel, Martins, Pessanha, & de Andrade, 2017). The factors like income and healthy life expectancy is government based, and the generosity is self-behaviour based, whereas social support, freedom of life choices, and corruption is based on perception.
Fig. 1 Six key variables to increase happiness
These variables are found to support well-being which in turn promotes happiness. Some of the top happiest countries in the world include Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland. However, research have revealed that there is a direct correlation between happiness and scientific innovation. A happy and secure country is always motivated towards innovation, without any external stress. The happier a country, the more it will be innovative and vice versa (Shamsi, Ameen, Isaac, Al-Shibami, & Khalifa, 2018). The government will provide sufficient research fund and scientific assistance in the form of latest equipments and theoretical knowledge, to promote innovation among people.
Family structure
The family structure people also have direct impact the happiness of country. It is proposed to promote family structure having two children, where each children can be cared and given equal attention. It is evident that a family with more number of children gets neglected and involve in illegal and criminal activities. This in turn, increases criminal activities and tension in the society. Further, the culture of divorce among two married individuals will be minimized. The reason being is that married people are happier than their single counterparts, which is reported by a global research survey US, Asian and EU countries (Dinisman, Andresen, Montserrat, Strózik, & Strózik, 2017). A small and stable family is always believed to contribute happiness.
Conclusion
It is learnt that the key factors related to a nation's happiness are income, health expectancy, and freedom of life choices, trust, generosity, and social support. Considering these factors, some of the major national interests have been redesigned to greatest happiness and satisfaction among the people. The national interest considered in this report includes economic policies, healthcare system, transportation system, entertainment, governance system, scientific innovation, and family structure. In can be inferred that a happy nation prospers and progress in various fields.
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