Assigned Readings

From book Reading the World: Ideas That Matter, 4th edition, by Michael Austin 

Confucius, from the Analects 436

Adam Smith, from The Theory of Moral Sentiments 456

Jeremy Bentham, “The Principle of Utility” 463

Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” 479

Paul Bloom, from Against Empathy 487

Assignment

Refute Bentham’s argument that all questions of right and wrong should be settled by examining the effect that an action has on the happiness or well-being of the largest number of people. In other words, you must answer this question: “How is Bentham’s principle of utility a faulty or incomplete solution to answering questions of right and wrong?” Engage the ideas (that is, quote, summarize, or paraphrase and react to) at least five other writers from this textbook.

This is an argument essay, so you must use sources to support your argument rather than merely reporting what other writers said. Generally, we use source information by disagreeing with others’ ideas and explaining why, by agreeing with others’ ideas and then showing how those ideas are incomplete, and by agreeing with others’ ideas and providing additional evidence and thought.