| The purpose of this thesis is to provide a systematic defence of utilitarianism. The most important subsidiary goal of the thesis is to outline a sustained attack on rights-theory. The thesis is divided into two major parts.;The first part deals with the philosophy of both utilitarianism and rights in a mainly theoretical manner. We start out by looking at what these two schools of thinking are fundamentally about. We then look at some major problems with rights theory. Following this argument against rights, we move back to utilitarianism. A lengthy chapter is devoted to dealing with major criticisms that have been employed against this theory. The first part of the thesis ends with a look at the use of utilitarianism as a specifically political, rather than moral, theory.;The second part of the thesis brings both utilitarian and rights thinking to the real world, specifically to the conflict in Israel-Palestine. The argument here is that rights act as an obstacle to peace in this conflict. This is an application of the abstract ideas that were outlined in the first part of the thesis. Utilitarianism is then, once again, proposed, this time as a way of thinking that could bring peace to this terrible conflict.;The conclusion of the thesis is that, once we bring together both the abstract reasoning and the applied thinking that were employed in parts one and two respectively, it is clear that we must accept utilitarianism as the starting point for our moral, and especially our political thinking. |
